i’ve recently had the chance to see the ASIB: Algensammlung am Institut für Botanik der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (algal collection of the institute of botany).
in the little laboratory room, there are some 1500 specimens of aeroterrestrical algae and cyanobacteria (cyanoprokaryotes) stored and cultivated. every strain is grown in its own little test tube, and the entire chamber is cooled down to 12 degrees celsius to slow down their metabolism and make them low-maintenance.
the oldest specimen was collected in 1920.
apart from the scientific importance of such collections, i was impressed with the beautiful array of algae in nearly every colour.
[view photos: algal collection of the institute of botany]
Monday, 02.01.2012 at 22:55
[...] to subscribe to the RSS feed or email newsletter if you like this article.remember my photos of the algal collection of innsbruck’s institute of botany? one of them was chosen as “science image” (“bild der wissenschaft”) in [...]
Thursday, 21.06.2012 at 22:11
[...] of botany (university of innsbruck, austria) is an extremely photogenic subject. i published some pictures of the collection a few years ago, one of which has since been awarded “science image” by our [...]