Ohio River Ecology -
see
also Algae(ORSANCO)
- Algae are the primary producers in the Ohio River and
the algal communities respond rapidly to changes in the
water quality and the presence of grazers like zebra
mussels.
-
We attempt to characterize and study the Ohio River
Basin's complex biotic, and abiotic interactions.
This research is a collaborative effort between various
universities and colleges in what is called "Ohio River
Run" ---see below.
Ohio River Run (>click to learn more
about it)
-
Ohio River Run has been conducted in
early August every year since its beginning in 2001
and plan to continue on into 2010.
-
The Collaborative effort is between
participating colleges and Universities include:
The NKU Portion
of the Research conducted on the Ohio River includes:
-
Obtaining data
on algae collected every five miles along the entire
length of the Ohio River (981 miles, starting in
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and ending in Cairo,
Illinois)
-
Counting Algae and
Diatoms from those samples
-
Combine the data
from collaborating institutions on Chemistry, flow
rates, bacterial levels.
Also a project that was
created off the first Ohio River Run Expedition, into a
manscript in preparation about diatoms.
Diatoms of the upper Ohio River Basin
and Selected Tributaries: Atlas of Species and and their
roles in river ecology.
<Poster Presentation of this project>
This
book contains photographs and descriptions of 233
species of diatoms belonging to 64 freshwater genera.
The diatoms were collected mostly during the summer of
2001. In the process of identifying the taxa, the
authors had to consult numerous books and research
papers, most not easily available or in written in
languages other than English. Many of these taxonomic
treatises are very expensive and not easily available
outside a specialized diatom herbaria. As a result the
need was identified for, the creation of a user friendly
guide to diatoms. This book represents the culmination
of 3 years of work to create such a guide. We designed
this book so it can be used by people with little or no
technical training in diatom taxonomy. Water plant
operators, undergraduate and graduate students
interested in aquatic ecosystems and anyone involved
with water quality enforcement should find this atlas of
Ohio River diatoms useful. In addition we hope this
book will help school teachers introduce their students
to the wonderful world of diatoms, when training them in
the use of dichotomous keys.
The user friendly features of the book
include a key to genus illustrated with pictures of not
just the taxa, but also of the specific features
described in the key. The book has also a detailed
glossary of taxonomic and ecological terms. With the
description of each species we give its habitat
preference and distribution.
The purpose of this book is also to
present a taxonomic study of the Upper Ohio River
Bacillariophyta. The primary goal is to create a
floristic assessment of the species that occur in the
basin. Previous work on diatoms of this region was
exclusive of the Ohio River, and focused primarily on
the Scioto River Basin (Collins and Kalinsky, 1977).
This study can serve as a basis for water quality
evaluation using diatoms. Although all the taxa
described here and their photographs are for the Ohio
River basin, the book will be of use to anyone working
on rivers of North America because diatoms are
cosmopolitan in distribution. |
