Regrowth of Didymosphenia geminata after a removal event.

Abstract

Didymosphenia geminata is a diatom native to the U.S. Rocky Mountains, and is found and considered an invasive species in many parts of the world. It grows in massive mats that carpet large portions of the streams it is found in. I tested the effects of removal on Didymosphenia because past studies have suggested that the mats may not recover after a disturbance event, but nothing had been decisively proven. In this study, I removed the mat from 8 different rocks across 3 streams in the East River Valley, and observed how the Didymosphenia regrew over a 40 day period. I also took microscope samples from each stream to analyze how it was reacting on a cellular level. At the end of the observation period, the Didymosphenia had grown back slightly, but had not recovered to the level of an untreated, Didymosphenia-covered rock. Also, the microscope data showed that the cells from the removed had a higher rate of cell division and had much shorter stalk attached to them. This suggests that the trigger for Didymosphenia to grow the stalked mats is not present in July- August when the observations took place, and that the growth is most likely triggered by a cue earlier in the year.

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