Download - Phytoplankton Diversity in New York Lakes
Phytoplankton Diversity in New York Lakes
Ryan Butryn and Rick Naro
http://www.durr.demon.co.uk/volvox.html
http://www.turnerdesigns.com/t2/instruments/10au.html
Study Sites
• Analysis of phytoplankton diversity and chlorophyll-a levels in New York lakes:– Arbutus Lake– Wolf Lake– Catlin Lake– Oneida Lake– Green Lake– Onondaga Lake– Skaneateles Lake
Wolf Lake
Chlorophyll Study Site Procedures
• Collect water sample from defined lake layers– epilimnion– metalimnion– hypolimnion
• Green Lake sampling included– chemocline– monimolimnion
Arbutus Lake
Chlorophyll Lab Procedure
• Turner Designs 10-AU Field Fluorometer– Measures the fluorescence of
chlorophyll-a– Highly sensitive– Suitable for extractive and in vivo
analysis
• Sample Processing– 100ml water sample filtered– Filter paper dissolved in 10ml acetone
http://www.turnerdesigns.com/t2/instruments/10au.html
Chlorophyll-a Results
Ska
ne
ate
les
Arb
utu
s
Wo
lf
Gre
en
Ca
tlin
On
eid
a
On
on
da
ga 0
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Chlorophyll-a (μg/l)
Sampling Location
Skaneateles
Arbutus
Wolf
Green
Catlin
Oneida
Onondaga
A Special Case: Green Lake
• Lake profile appears to be similar to other low productivity lakes
• Highest chlorophyll-a level is found in the chemocline
Green Lake Chlorophyll-a Profile
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Epilimnion Metalimnion Hypolimnion Chemocline Monimolimnion
Sample Location
Why is chlorophyll-a so high?
• We hypothesize that green photosynthetic bacteria should be present in solution and masked by the purple bacteria
• Further processing is required to confirm this.
Phytoplankton Collection
• Van Dorn trap used to sample each lake layer
• Samples stabilized with preservative solution
• Identified and counted under microscope
Phytoplankton DivisionsArbutus Lake
Cyanophyta Chlorophyta Chrysophyta
Green Lake
Chlorophyta Pyrrophyta CryptophytaEuglenophyta Cyanophyta
Catlin Lake
Diatom Chrysophyta Cyanophyta Chlorophyta
Skaneate les Lake
Cyanophyta Euglenophyta Chlorophyta
Phytoplankton DivisionsOneida Lake
Diatom Cyanophyta Euglenophyta
Chlorophyta Chrysophyta Pyrrophyta
Onondaga Lake
Euglenophyta Chlorophyta Cryptophyta
Cyanopyta diatom Chrysophyta
Quadricoccus euryhalinicus
Catlin Phytoplankton Genera
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Hypolimnion
Metalimnion
Epilimnion
Oneida Phytoplankton Genera
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Hypolimnion
Metalimnion
Epilimnion
Onondaga Phytoplankton Genera
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Hypolimnion
Metalimnion
Epilimnion
Summary of Observations
• Chlorophyll– Highest in epilimnion and hypolimnion in eutrophic
lakes, lower in metalimnion– Relatively constant density in oligotrophic lakes– Green Lake a special case
• Phytoplankton– Increasing eutrophication = higher phytoplankton
diversity– Cyanophytes tend to dominate eutrophic lakes– Chlorophytes dominate more oligotrophic lakes– More plankton diversity in epilimnion, more plankton
numbers in metalimnion and hypolimnion