RUI: Documenting, Understanding and Conserving the Biodiversity of Freshwater Siliceous Algae in Coastal Ponds Along Eastern North America

Connecticut College, New London CT

Investigators

Abstract

Project Abstract The primary focus of this project is to provide detailed surveys of two biologically diverse and ecologically important groups of algae in freshwater lakes and ponds along the east coast of North America. The scaled chrysophytes and diatoms are integral components of all aquatic habitats and are among the best known organisms used by scientists to detect changes in our nations water resources. Despite the importance of scaled chrysophytes and diatoms, the fact remains that large geographic regions along the margin of North America remain largely unexplored for both groups of organisms. Our goals will include describing the floras of these algal organisms for specific regions along the coast, describing new species to science, evaluating the relative importance of chemical variables vs. climate-related factors in shaping and controlling the distributions of these organisms along a subtropical to arctic gradient, and to train a group of highly motivated undergraduates in taxonomy and ecology issues. As part of this project, we will survey waterbodies along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador and the Canadian Arctic, and add this information to our existing databases in order to accomplish our goals. We will use high resolution light and scanning electron microscopy to document all species, and archive our samples in national museums making them available to other scientists. According to an in-depth study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), numerous regions along the eastern coast of North America were ranked "high", "continentally outstanding" or "globally outstanding" for their aquatic biological distinctiveness. Many of these same regions had future (next 20 years) habitat threat assessment projections of "high", and were rated by the WWF as "endangered" or "vulnerable" areas in North America. Based on this thorough study, all regions to be sampled as part of our project warrant immediate biodiversity protection efforts. When combined with our previous results, our work will include detailed analyses of both algal groups in ponds from all seven freshwater ecoregions defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that span the east coast of the North American continent from subtropical Florida to the Arctic. A primary goal of our study will be to provide detailed biodiversity evaluations of two ecologically important algal groups for all seven coastal ecoregions that will complement existing databases for aquatic animals and enhance conservation efforts, including those of the National Park Service, the Forest Service and Parks Canada. A goal of NSF is to increase taxonomic expertise among the scientific work force, especially for poorly known microscopic organisms. Our program will help meet this challenge by yielding confident students with a high degree of taxonomic skill eager to pursue careers in biodiversity-related fields.