Rebecca Alexander will defend her master thesis, “Interactions of Zooplankton and Phytoplankton with Cyanobacteria,” at 3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 12, in 901 Hardin Hall. Her adviser is Kyle Hoagland.
Abstract:
Cyanobacteria are a major concern in Nebraska reservoirs and are capable of producing toxins that can cause skin irritations, gastrointestinal issues, and affect the nervous system. It is important to determine the mechanisms that can cause cyanobacteria blooms and a lot of work has gone into determining the abiotic factors that can contribute to this. The interaction of zooplankton and other phytoplankton groups with cyanobacteria is also important because there is also a biological aspect in surface waters. Weekly samples were collected from six Nebraska reservoirs and analyzed to determine the interactions of zooplankton and phytoplankton with cyanobacteria using generalized additive modeling and polynomial regression. Significant effects of cyanobacteria were found on Bacillaripohyte. No significant effects were found on Euglenphyte, Chlorophyte, or Dinoflagellates. No significant of cyanobacteria was found with broad groups such as cladocera, copepod, or rotifers. Cyanobacteria had a significant on Bosmina and copepod nauplii, but did not have significant effects on Daphnia, other cladocerans, cyclopoid copepods, and calanoid copepods. Biomanipulation can prove to have positive results in surface waters, but further research is needed to determine its effectiveness in Nebraska reservoirs, this study provides the first steps in helping to establish its possible effectiveness by determining the interactions of those groups with cyanobacteria.