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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Current and Future Approaches for Using Benthic Algae to Monitor and Assess Aquatic Ecosystems II
RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF SCALE IN BENTHIC ALGAL ECOLOGY.
R.L. Lowe. Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA
Routine examination of benthic algae through the microscope can lead one to forget that these organisms are minute relative to macro benthic invertebrates. Ecosystem variables that influence the algal thallus operate on very different spatial and temporal scales relative to other members of the benthic community.
Algae have relatively short lives. Since reproduction is accomplished almost entirely by asexual cloning an algal "life span" is difficult to define but life expectancy for a typical cell is approximately 2 orders of magnitude shorter than that of a typical benthic invertebrate. Algae are thus, not just physically but also "temporally minute". It is important to remind ourselves of appropriate spatial and temporal scales when designing experiments involving algae. Scraping a cobble in a lake to collect an algal "community" is equivalent to sampling many m2 on an invertebrate spatial scale. Monitoring diatom growth on a cobble for a month is equivalent to examining invertebrate demographics for over a year. The temporal and spatial differences between the lives of algae and algal ecologists can work very well to our advantage as long as we remain cognizant of the differences, ask the appropriate questions, design experiments carefully and select the proper research tools.
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