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Algae media:
COMBO media:
Kilham, S. S., Kreeger, D. A., Lynn, S. G., Goulden, C. E., & Herrera, L. (1998). COMBO: a defined freshwater culture medium for algae and zooplankton. Hydrobiologia, 377(1), 147-159.
This is the recommended media and was chosen for the following reasons: it can support algae culture as well as has no negative effects on freshwater zooplankton, it can be made without Nitrogen and/or Phosphorus to support experiments that manipulate these macronutrients.
Alga-Gro freshwater media:
I have used this media to culture several species of freshwater algae and cyanobacteria, including Raphidocelis subcapitata. This would likely be suitable for labs the only need to grow populations of algae. It can be ordered in concentrated form and is easy to use.
Algae:
https://www.aquaticbiosystems.com/products
Aquatic Biosystems in Fort Collins, Colorado will ship concentrated R. subcapitata (30 million cells/mL) in 1 L volume that can be used to inoculate microcosms as well as feed cultures of waterfleas (Daphnia magna). They pay attention to weather and flight delays to ensure that your order arrives in excellent condition.
https://www.carolina.com/algae/selenastrum-capricornatum-bacteria-free-living/152521.pr
Carolina Biological has R. subcapitata (formerly named S. capricornatum) in small liquid culture or even smaller agar slants for growing up in culture. Could be most useful in large volumes of algae are need immediately needed for culturing waterfleas.
University of Texas at Austin has single algae species isolates available for growing up in culture. Expensive but useful for growing up other taxa for competition experiments
Waterfleas:
https://www.aquaticbiosystems.com/products
Aquatic Biosystems in Fort Collins, Colorado will ship starter cultures of waterfleas (Daphnia magna) in larger volumes (1 L). They pay attention to weather and flight delays to ensure that your order arrives in excellent condition. I recommend purchasing their YTC mixture which can be used as additional nutrition for cultures of waterfleas.
https://www.carolina.com/crustaceans/daphnia-magna-living/142330.pr
Carolina sells smaller volumes of D. magna that can be cultured to larger population sizes.
Damselfly larvae:
https://www.carolina.com/aquatic-insects/damselfly-nymphs-living-pk-12/143520.pr
Carolina sells these common aquatic insect predators. However, you cannot choose the size (or age) of individuals that you will get.
For those who wish to collect their own damselfly larvae, I recommend using an aquatic d-frame net available from Carolina (https://www.carolina.com/environmental-science-field-collection/student-aquatic-net-d-frame/651291.pr), WildCo (https://store.sciencefirst.com/wildcoenvironmentalsampling/macroinvertebratesamplersandnets/dipnetskicknetstrinets) or Forestry Suppliers (https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/Search.php?stext=d-frame%20aquatic%20dip%20net).
Disposable hemocytometers:
These appear to be similar to the Watson brand units that are no longer available from Amazon.
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