Statistical analysis The statistical significance of the cultivation temperature and light intensity on the algal cell density was assessed using ANOVA F-test. The experimental data measured under each condition were pooled together. The significance test was done for each factor using one-way ANOVA. The null hypothesis is that the population means measured different levels of the experimental factor are all equal. The alternative is that they are not all equal, or the factor is significant. The statistical significance level cut-off was chosen as P 0.05