Phycology is the study of algae, the primary photosynthetic organisms in freshwater and marine food chains. Since the publication of the first edition in 1981, this textbook has established itself as a classic resource on this subject. Aimed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in phycology, limnology and biological oceanography, this revised edition maintains the format of previous editions, whilst incorporating the recent developments in the field such as: the potential and challenges of producing algae biofuel; the proliferation of algal toxins; and the development of new molecular tools and technologies on ancestry, phylogeny, and taxonomy of algae.

Robert Edward Lee was educated at Cornell University (B.S., 1960-4) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Ph.D., 1966-71) and served as a Platoon leader in the US Army First Infantry Division (1964-6). He was Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (1971-7), Associate Professor at Shiraz (Pahlavi) University, Shiraz, Iran (1977-9), Fellow of Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston (1979-81) and is currently Coordinator of Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, a post he has held since 1981. For 50 years, and 5 editions of Phycology, Lee has been interested in the systematics, evolution, and ecology of the algae as well as the important economic aspects of the organisms.