Algae and Human Affairs provides a comprehensive survey of the major roles of algae in present and future human life. This detailed synthesis is divided into four sections.

The first reviews the natural roles of algae as sources of oxygen, organic carbon compounds, and as bases of food-chains for higher trophic levels.

The second group of chapters deals with the commercial and economic value of algae to industry, energy, waste treatment and agriculture (i.e. algae as an important source of food and food additives, such as the carageenan used in dairy products).

The third section discusses the detrimental, sometimes disastrous, effects of algae in the form of red-tide organisms, weeds, producers of freshwater toxins, and marine biofouling.

The final section considers applications and the potential of algae to industry, in general, and, in particular, to space exploration and genetic engineering.

Contents

Editors' preface;
Part I. Algae and Their Role in Natural Ecosystems:
1. The algae: an overview Marilyn M. Harlin and W. Marshall Darley;
2. Structure and role of algae in tropical reef communities Mark M. Littler and Diane S. Littler;
3. Algae and the environment: the Great Lakes case Eugene F. Stoermer;

Part II. Algae for Food and Food Supplements:
4. Porphyra as food: cultivation and economics Thomas F. Mumford Jr and Akio Miura;
5. Cultivated edible kelp Louis D. Druehl;
6. Food and food products from seaweeds Isabella A. Abbott;
7. Spirulina: a model for microalgae as human food Alan Jassby;
8. Some public health aspects of microalgal products Alan Jassby;

Part III. Algae in Industry, Environmental Management, and Agriculture:
9. Commercial production and applications of algal hydrocolloids Jerry G. Lewis, Norman F. Stanley and G. Gordon Guist;
10. Lipids and polyols from microalgae Kenneth G. Spencer;
11. The role of microalgae in liquid waste treatment and reclamation William J. Oswald;
12. Hydrogen production by algal water splitting Elias Greenbaum;
13. Products from fossil algae Richard W. George;
14. Algae and agriculture Blaine Metting, William R. Rayburn and Pierre A. Reynaud; Part IV. Adverse Impacts of Algae:
15. Marine dinoflagellate blooms: dynamics and impacts Karen A. Steidinger and Gabriel A. Vargo;
16. Hazards of freshwater blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) Paul R. Gorham and Wayne W. Carmichael;
17. Marine biofouling L. V. Evans;
18. Algae as weeds: economic impact, ecology and management alternatives Carole A. Lembi, Steven W. O'Neal and David F. Spencer; Part V. The Future of Algae in Human Affairs:
19. Algae in space Robert A. Wharton Jr, David T. Smernoff and Maurice M. Averner;
20. The genetic improvement of algae; progress and prospects John P. van der Meer;
21. A future of phycotechnology Arthur Michio Nonomura;
Indexes.