Table 1. Algal strains used in this experiment, along with their frequency in North American lakes.
| Species name | Taxonomic group | Common form | Frequency (%) | Rank Freq. | Rank Abundance |
| Anabaena spp. 1 | Cyanobacteria | Filaments | 55.9 | 4 | 13 |
| Navicula subminuscula 1 | Bacillariophyta | Individual cells | 35.4 | 16 | 168 |
| Nitzschia pusilla 2 | Bacillariophyta | Individual cells | 31.1 | 22 | 116 |
| Oscillatoria spp. 1 | Cyanobacteria | Filaments | 33.7 | 19 | 24 |
| Planothidium lanceolatum 2 | Bacillariophyta | Individual cells | N/A | ||
| Scenedesmus quadricauda 3 | Chlorophyta | Colonies | 52.9 | 5 | 51 |
| Selenastrum minutum 3 | Chlorophyta | Individual cells | 16.5 | 48 | 147 |
| Spirogyra communis 3 | Charophyta | Filaments | 0.34 | 183 | 184 |
| Stigeoclonium tenue 3 | Chlorophyta | Individual cells | 0.86 | 139 | 216 |
| Tabularia fasciculata 2 | Bacillariophyta | Individual cells | 5.46 | 83 | 145 |
1
Obtained from the Carolina Biological Supply Company (North Carolina, USA).
2
Isolated in the laboratory from local environmental samples.
3
Obtained from the University of Texas Culture Collection (UTEX; Texas, USA).
N/A: Genus not observed in the 2007 survey.
Frequency (%): percentage of lakes in which this genus was present, based on a 2007 survey completed by the U.S. EPA (n = 1154 lakes) [13].
Rank Freq: of the 262 total genera found, ranking based on how frequently the particular genus was observed.
Rank Abundance: ranking based on the average abundance of genera in all lakes where present.