SUBJECT: Sources for protozoan cultures
DATE: 2/96

Can anyone recommend a reliable source for large cultures of
protozoa and Daphnia besides Carolina Biological? I have had some problems
with delayed (and consequently dead) shipments this winter as well as last
year. I run a series of Ecology labs that use ciliates as a model system
for studing pop growth, competition, predator-prey dynamics, and mutualism.
While I can easily produce mass cultures of the bacterivorous species, I
don't want to get into trying to culture Didinium. It's simply more work
than it's worth to keep them fed since we only need them for one or two
labs. The problem is, since I need to have Didinium cultures delivered a
day or two before the lab sessions, serious problems can develop when the
weather is bad on the east coast. Same goes for Daphnia. I do a foraging
behavior lab which requires lots of prey. Again, trying to culture massive
amounts of Daphnia just is too space (and time) consuming. This
necessitates ordering them to arrive just before the labs, and again
weather can be a problem. Since Carolina closed their west coast facility,
ordering from that location is no longer an option. Any suggestions? BTW,
I have tried Ward's, but their cultures are frequently contaminated with
bdelloid rotifers and other extraneous organisms that, unless removed,
become confounding variables.

Thanks in advance,

Liane Cochran-Stafira
Dept. of Ecology and Evolution
The University of Chicago
1101 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637-5415
phone: 312-702-1930
e-mail: lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu


Liane,

I've had pretty good luck with Connecticut Valley Biol, 1-800-628-7748.
They will ship large quantities, are pretty reliable, and will work with
you on special orders (plus they tend to be a bit cheaper than the other
two).

I'm usually not that concerned about contamination from other organisms,
since we usually use stuff for observation, hence, I don't really recall
how "clean" they are. I am forever bouncing back and forth between
Wards and Connecticut (I don't like Carolina) depending on the latest
service (plus, wards has a better selection).

FYI, Nebraska Scientific has really good selections of preserved animals,
and they are quite a bit cheaper than the above... But all their live
stuff comes from Conn. Valley... in fact Nebraska uses the same numbers
as Conn Val. for live organisms with prices exactly 50 cents higher than
Conn Val. (I was suprised to order some molecular bio supplies from
Nebraska and it came _in_ a Conn Valley box). Phone 1-800-228-7117.

Jeff

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Lewin, Lab Associate http://www.bio.mtu.edu/perspage/jclewin/home.html
jclewin@mtu.edu Department of Biological Sciences
(906) 487-3435 Michigan Technological University
Fax (906) 487-3167 Houghton, MI 49931


For all you folks out here in the West (although they may ship far away),
we've been using Niles Biological out of Sacramento, CA. We
have been quite happy with them this year. Volvox lasted longer than usual,
and Hydra made it for almost a week. We too have shifted between Carolina
and Wards.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
ED BURLING
DeAnza College
E-mail: eb04124@tiptoe.fhda.edu
Tel: (408) 864-8625
Cupertino, CA 94014

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