Data for designing microalgal consortia for higher yield

The data reported here were directly used in the research article entitled "A novel approach to build algal consortia for sustainable biomass production (Mandal and Corcoran, 2022)". Data were collected to (1) generate microalgal consortia through a functional diversity approach and (2) test generated consortia against monocultures. Algal trait data (i.e., growth rate, carrying capacity) related to light, temperature, and salinity were collected in thirteen Nannochloropsis and Microchloropsis strains grown under different resource levels/conditions. Trait values were used in an in-silico method to calculate the functional diversity index (FDi) in all possible consortia (8178 combinations). Two metrics, the Net Biodiversity Effect (NBE) and Overyielding (OY), were used to assess the utility of this functional dispersion approach in consortia building for algal production.