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Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(386) ASSESSMENT OF EPIPHYTE COLONIZATION PATTERNS ON AQUATIC MOSS LEAVES USING SEM AND GIS.
G.D. LaLiberte. Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA 43403
Aquatic mosses serve as substrates for epiphytic algae in both lentic and lotic systems. Their numerous small leaves provide a large surface for epiphytic algae. Patterns of algae on leaves can reveal the physical and ecological forces, such as hydrodynamic forces and grazing pressures, which affect colonization. Moss leaves were examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and digital micrographs were generated. The micrographs were processed and analyzed using geographic information systems (GIS) software. The locations of epiphytes were mapped and analyzed in relation to their distance from the centers and edges of the leaves and from other epiphytes. Regardless of species, algal epiphytes colonized the tips and edges of moss leaves first. Blue-green filaments tended to be concentrated at the tips of leaves in subsequent successional stages, and motile diatoms tended to be concentrated at the bases of leaves. This study suggests that hydrodynamic forces may be primarily responsible for initial colonization patterns along leaf tips and edges, and grazing impacts may later influence the growth of algae on other surfaces of the leaves.
Presented at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, May 31, 2000 in Periphyton
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