Event Title
Algal community assessment and proving the importance of diatom analysis of benthic habitats in Kentucky streams
Faculty Mentor
Kalina Manoylov
Keywords
Kalina Manoylov
Abstract
Rivers and streams are complex ecosystems in which many environmental factors vary on spatial and temporal scales. These factors include climate, land use, physical characteristics, and other biotic and abiotic factors. It is impractical to measure all physical and chemical factors that may influence the environmental integrity of the ecosystem, therefore biological indicators such as algae, are used to infer ecosystem integrity. Benthic algae are the most successful primary producers to exploit streams and because of their rapid response to environmental change, they are useful as indicators of stream water quality. This study looked at benthic algal communities in Kentucky streams and compared macroscopic observations to microscopic analyses (two separate at 400x and at 1000x) to prove the importance of diatom community assessment. Macroscopic observations of algal community suggested a dominance of soft algae, however microscopic analysis showed algal communities of 57 sites to be dominated by diatoms.
Session Name:
Biological and Environmental Sciences II
Start Date
4-4-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
4-4-2014 10:00 AM
Location
HSB 207
Algal community assessment and proving the importance of diatom analysis of benthic habitats in Kentucky streams
HSB 207
Rivers and streams are complex ecosystems in which many environmental factors vary on spatial and temporal scales. These factors include climate, land use, physical characteristics, and other biotic and abiotic factors. It is impractical to measure all physical and chemical factors that may influence the environmental integrity of the ecosystem, therefore biological indicators such as algae, are used to infer ecosystem integrity. Benthic algae are the most successful primary producers to exploit streams and because of their rapid response to environmental change, they are useful as indicators of stream water quality. This study looked at benthic algal communities in Kentucky streams and compared macroscopic observations to microscopic analyses (two separate at 400x and at 1000x) to prove the importance of diatom community assessment. Macroscopic observations of algal community suggested a dominance of soft algae, however microscopic analysis showed algal communities of 57 sites to be dominated by diatoms.