The tropical north of Australia covers almost half of the countrys total land area, is occupied by no more than about 5% of the total population, and yet has been estimated to account for close to 70% of the countrys potential freshwater resources. The region experiences strong climatic variability, both spatially and seasonally, with large areas subject to long dry periods interspersed by short periods of torrential rain. This book presents an overview of the freshwater resources of a region that has undergone a period of intense development (agricultural, industrial and social) over recent decades and for which is predicted a continuing period of development into the future. The author describes how the availability of surface, groundwater and stored freshwater, in terms of both quantity and quality, will continue to be the major factor influencing such development. It will also highlight how the emphasis on ensuring year-round water supply has, in recent decades, shifted to one of management to ensure sustainability of this vital resource and maintenance of the ecological health of what is known to be a fragile ecosystem. This book draws on the authors 25+ years of experience as a professional biologist living and working (as a teacher/researcher) in the tropical north of Australia, a region which in light of strengthening trade and other links between Australia and its neighbouring south-east Asian countries, is likely to become of increasing international significance in the future.

Microalgae, with representatives in all but one of the major algal divisions, are an important component of the biota of the world's aquatic environments. They include phytoplankton that are almost entirely responsible for the primary production of all marine and freshwater bodies. They occur at the base of the food chains upon which the world's fisheries industries depend, and in the numerous aquaculture projects upon which the world will increasingly come to rely on a large portion of its protein requirement. Their use for the mass production of stock feed and for direct human consumption, already being practised in many parts of the world, is likely to become of increasing importance in the future as is the exploitation of their ability to serve as a source of key metabolites in the food industry and in the synthesis of a range of other high-value products. The mass culture of microalgae under controlled conditions is also under consideration for its potential to provide an alternative source of biomass and for the production of biofuels, such as biodiesel, that does not compete for land that can be more profitably used for the production of traditional food crops. The potential of microalgae as a commercial source of another energy source, hydrogen, is also under investigation with a view to exploiting the ability of some microalgae, unique among oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, to release hydrogen gas produced from the photolytic splitting of water. The proven role of microalgae in waste-water treatment and in various environmental remediation processes as well as their potential contribution as a vital component of carbon-capture schemes will also be described. This book surveys our current understanding of those aspects of the biology of microalgae which constitute the basis of the range of practical applications now under consideration for their potential contribution to human health and well-being. The focus is largely on physiological and biochemical processes of microalgae as they are currently known, with the aim of providing some of the basic background information against which present and proposed future developments can be assessed. Many of these developments, if they are to be successful, will require collaboration of engineers, process biochemists and microbiologists as well as those trained to address economic and environmental considerations. It is hoped that this book, will provide for such workers and for the lay person, an overview of some of the relevant basic biology of the microalgae, highlighting their metabolic flexibility and their vast potential as a valuable resource that is yet to be fully realised.

This book summarises some of the major processes involved in the production of daughter cells as they have been reported from work mainly with synchronous cultures of microalgae since the technique was first developed. This book also highlights the key findings that have led to our present understanding of cell cycle processes in microalgae with particular reference to those that control daughter-cell production. Among the microalgal species that have been studied are those that divide by simple binary fission, like the diatoms (Bacillariophyceae), dinoflagellates (Pyrrophyta) and the euglenoids (Euglenophyta), as well as those, mainly represented by the green microalgae (Chlorophyta), that divide by various more complex processes of multiple fission.