Research

Center for Algal Biology and Applied Research

Research group of Algae Taxonomy and Resources Utilization

 

 

 

PI: Prof. LIU Guoxiang, PhD

Members:HU Zhengyu, Kuang Qijun 

General Introduction: 

The Research Group of Algal Taxonomy and Resource Utilization was created in 1936 by Prof. RAO Qinzhi, or Chin-Chih Jao, a pioneer in algal studies of China. Over the past 80 years, generations of researchers from this group have devoted themselves to the study of freshwater algae flora and systematic taxonomy in China.  

They have published hundreds of papers, published 12 monographs on algae taxonomy, and proposed a large number of new species. Focused on taxonomy, systematics, diversity and distribution of freshwater algae, and algal resource utilization, this group has won a total of eight awards including the second prize of National Natural Science of China. 

A substantial part of their research involves a combination of fieldwork, culturing algal strains, morphological observations, and following molecular works to study a range of topics about biodiversity and systematics of freshwater algae. They use morphological, molecular, and ecological data to resolve taxonomic problems and phylogenetic relationships, test species and genera boundaries, and explore algal biodiversity in various habitats from wetlands to terrestrial habitats. 

Currently, this group is interested in several groups of Chlorophyta and Streptophyta algae, including Cladophorales, Trentepohliales, Chaetophorales, Sphaeropleales, Chlorellales, Charales, Volvocales and some coccoid green algae.