PLANT AND ALGAL ECOPHYSIOLOGY LAB

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    Great Lakes Nutrient Cycling and Algal Ecology

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       - organic P use, algal blooms, viral lysis…

 

Projects are focused on understanding use of organic P sources by algae in nearshore and offshore Lake Michigan.  We have been examining alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity using bulk assays and localization using enzyme-linked fluorescence (ELF-97) assays.  We are interested in how P sources, including organic P, which are excreted from invasive Dreissenid mussels can support primary production in nearshore Lake Michigan, possibly fueling blooms of the nuisance filamentous alga Cladophora and harmful cyanobacteria. 

 

Chelsea Lowes is studying how different algae and cyanobacteria can use a range of organic P sources.  We are also investigating viruses present in Lake Michigan and small urban ponds in Milwaukee.  Alicia Hanson is examining the role of viral lysis in nutrient release and supply to phytoplankton.  Virus research is in collaboration with John Berges and Steve Wilhelm (Univ Tennessee).

 

Erica Young is an affiliated scientist at the Great Lakes WATER Institute (GLWI).  Field-work in Lake Michigan is carried out on the R/V Osprey or R/V Neeskay out of the GLWI. We have been involved in an investigation of a late-winter phenomenon of ‘The Doughnut’ in central southern Lake Michigan with Chas Kerfoot and Sarah Green at Michigan Tech University. See Gallery for photos of our 2007 cruise on the R/V Laurentian.

 

This research is funded by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and UWM Research Growth Initiative.

      

     

         

 

        The Laurentian Great Lakes                                  Cladophora blooms      ELF-staining of AP                 Cladophora                     Cladophora grows

                        from satellite                                      washing up on Lake       activity in Cladophora            encrusted with                 attached to

                                                                                  Michigan shoreline                                                  epiphytic diatoms             Dreissenid mussels

 

 

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