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Morphological and ecological characteristics of Chrysosphaerella longispina and C. brevispina (Chrysophyceae)
Author(s) -
Siver Peter A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
nordic journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1756-1051
pISSN - 0107-055X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1051.1993.tb00060.x
Subject(s) - taxon , trophic level , biology , ecology , conductance , botany , physics , condensed matter physics
Although Chrysosphaerella longispina and C. brevispina are common species reported from freshwater localities, only scattered ecological records exist. In addition. most identifications and descriptions are based on features of their siliceous components as viewed with transmission electron microscopy. In this study details of scales and spines are made with scanning electron microscopy. Ecological data for both taxa along seasonal, temperature, pH, specific conductance and total phosphorus gradients are discussed for Connecticut lakes and compared to records compiled from the literature. C. brevispina and C. longispina were found to be distributed primarily in winter and summer/autumn months, respectively. As a result, C. brevispina had a much lower weighted mean temperature of 6°C. Both taxa were found to have maximal distribution between pH 5 and 7, and to be more common in waters low in specific conductance; however, C. brevispina was also observed in localities with higher specific conductance. The distribution of both taxa along trophic gradients is also discussed.