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The green macroalgae from genus Ulva are commonly used in biotechnology as a source of biomass for the production of biofuels or in bioremediation, but mostly for processing in food industry in Asia and other coastal regions. Within Europe, these algae belong to the so-called "approved novel food", however the species which are mainly used have the leaf-like morphology and they are usually imported, so the usage of local European resources is relatively very low. However the tubular morphotypes of the genus Ulva (originally included in the genus Enteromorpha) might probably be an equally promising source of biomass for the use in food industry and other sectors. They show high resistence to wide range of abiotic conditions and they occur not only in marine localities, but also in brackish or even freshwater ecosystems. Considering this, they seem to be a promising source for processing in Central Europe as well. In this study were isolated and cultivated two populations of the genus Ulva typical for the tubular morphotypes. One was from brackish locality in the Baltic sea (Ulva flexuosa) and one from freshwater locality in Czech Republic (Ulva pilifera). The aim was to evaluate their cultivation potential for their potential use in food industry. Their growth rates were observed during the...

The genus Ulva represents a remarkable group of organisms, with number of species. It belongs to the class Ulvophyceae, one of the major groups of chlorophytic green algae and it is characterized by a typical dual morphology and isomorphic haplo-diplontic life cycle. This work is a summary of existing knowledge related to this algal genus with regard to the phylogeny, diversity and ecology, which is relatively interesting due to the ability of these algae to adapt to a wide range of abiotic conditions. It also focuses on the development of thallus morphology of these algae, especially with relation to an interesting and very important role of symbiotic bacteria in this process and, last but not least, on the biotechnological utilization that has great potential for the future, especially in terms of the utilization of Ulva as an alternative renewable energy source, a food supplement with high content of important proteins, minerals and vitamins, or as a source of polysaccharides, the so-called "ulvans", which are now investigated for their biological activity and application in human medicine. Key words: Ulva, Ulvophyceae, phylogeny, morphogenesis, biotechnology, ekology, diversity

This study was aimed at discovering the taxonomical identity of freshwater populations of a prevailably marine green-algal genus Ulva in the Czech Republic. Furtherly, collected samples were compared to available relevant material from European herbaria. The identity of collected specimens was successfully resolved by a combined methodology that involved classical and modern molecular techniques, and discussed in the framework of distribution and ecology of close European taxa.