MANY OF THE CROPS THAT WE CURRENTLY DEPEND ON FOR FOOD ARE ATTACKED BY MICROBES OR EATEN BY GRAZERS (THINK OF THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE, OR LOCUST INFESTATIONS). MICROSCOPIC ALGAE ARE CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED AS A MUCH MORE EFFICIENT CROP, AS THEY CAN BE GROWN IN SALTWATER PONDS OR ON LAND UNSUITABLE FOR TRADITIONAL CROPS, AND THEY CAN PRODUCE 30 TO 40 TIMES MORE PROTEIN PER ACRE THAN OTHER CROPS. A CURRENT ISSUE IS THAT THESE MICROSCOPIC ALGAE ARE ALSO ATTACKED BY MICROBES AND EATEN BY MICROSCOPIC HERBIVORES THAT LIVE IN PONDS. SO, JUST LIKE WITH OUR CURRENT CROPS, WE NEED TO FIND WAYS TO PROTECT ALGAE FROM THESE PESTS SO WE CAN MAKE THE MOST OUT OF THEIR EXCEPTIONAL EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY.THIS PROJECT WILL USE A COMBINATION OF CONTROLLED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, PILOT-SCALE OUTDOOR ALGAE POND EXPERIMENTS, AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND MODELING TO FIND NEW SOLUTIONS FOR GROWING ALGAE IN A WAY THAT THEY DON'T GET ATTACKED BY HARMFUL PESTS. THE SPECIFIC STRATEGY IN THIS PROJECT IS TO USE THE CHEMICAL DEFENSES THAT SOME ALGAE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED OVER MILLIONS, IF NOT BILLIONS, OF YEARS, AND WHICH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DETER HARMFUL PESTS. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS WILL IDENTIFY SPECIFIC CHEMICALS RELEASED BY ALGAE WHICH DEFEND THEM WHEN PESTS ARE ADDED TO THEIR CULTURES, OUTDOOR POND EXPERIMENTS WILL VERIFY THAT THESE DEFENSES WORK OUT IN THE FIELD, AND STATISTICS AND MODELING WILL QUANTIFY THE PROTECTIVE EFFECTS AND INFORM INDUSTRY PRACTITIONERS HOW MUCH THIS NEW APPROACH COULD HELP INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND REDUCE COSTS. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS THAT THIS RESEARCH WILL HELP MOVE THE ALGAE FARMING INDUSTRY FORWARD AND GIVE US A HIGHLY EFFICIENT SOURCE OF PROTEIN AND OTHER MARKETABLE CO-PRODUCTS LIKE HIGH-VALUE OMEGA-3S AND ANTIOXIDANTS.