International Workshop on Gelidium.Proceedings of the Int.Workshop on Gelidium held in Santander, Spain, September 3-8, 1991. (Developments in Hydrobiology, 68).XVIII,203 p.4to.Hard cover.

Seaweed extractives that are important commercial phycocolloids havenumerous and varied applications. Resources yielding phycocolloids areobtained from many areas of the world and a diversity of seaweed speciesare used in the international seaweed industry. As phycocolloids arenatural products, the continuing availability of adequate resources isa primary factor, on which the continuance and future success of theseaweed-extractive industry is dependent. Resource availability hasespecially hindered the development of the agar section of the industry,which has been unable to keep pace with demand for this material. Agar,as a consequennce, has been, and remains, the most valuable of thephycocolloids. This is especially true of extracts of Gelidium, andrelated species, which yield a high-grade form of agar. This workdiscusses a broad range of topics including papers on the biologicaland economical importance of Gelidium, world resources, ecology,exploitation, physiology, cultivation and genetics and cell culture,together with an overview of the Gelidium industry in Spain.