Subject: Inquiry: Clean src for Chara, or cleanup protocol..?

From: [email-masked] (Tim Chipman)
Date: 3 Oct 95 11:23:59 -0300

While I realize this may not be the most appropriate group for this
posting, it is the best I could do. Instead of flaming me on this point,
feel free to suggest a more appropriate group :-)

I am hoping to acquire a relatively clean culture of a macrophytic 
freshwater algae, Chara (A charophycean algae). I have recently acquired 
some field-collected Chara from a local pond, but I am somewhat concerned 
about the liklihood of ever getting an axenic culture from what is 
obviously a mess of other epiphytes growing on the Chara, not to mention 
the beetles and snails that were unintentionally collected.

Thus, my request is this: Does anyone know of

-Any source that has relatively clean Chara cultures? (Axenic ideally of 
course!)

-Any protocol for establishing axenic cultures from field-collected
material?

-Any protocol for cleaning up the field-collected material without 
killing it to yield something significantly less contaminated by other 
species? 

If you do have any suggestions on any of these topics, please email me at:
[email-masked]

I really would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks very much!

Tim Chipman