Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Degree Granting Department

Biology (Integrative Biology)

Major Professor

Thomas J. Whitmore, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Melanie A. Riedinger-Whitmore, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Alison Gainsbury, Ph.D.

Keywords

Diatoms, Diversity, Limnology, Paleolimnology

Abstract

Florida lakes are diverse ecosystems and are an important part of the state's biodiversity and ecosystem services. As human population and development increase across the state, many lakes have been documented as nutrient impaired and are unable to maintain essential ecological functions. In this study, diatom diversity and functional groups in 72 Florida lakes were assessed for their relationships with associated water-quality data. Common alpha diversity indices, including Shannon-Weiner Index, the Gini-Simpson Index, and Hill’s numbers were utilized to measure trends in diatom communities, while the relationships between diatom lifeform characteristics and environmental data were explored using multivariate methods and data visualization. This study showed that nutrients have little effect on measures of alpha diversity. Species composition and functional lifeform groups, however, showed important differences across nutrient gradients. Florida’s current lake-management approach is based on limnetic chlorophyll a and nutrient concentrations, but eutrophication involves disturbance to many aspects of the biological structure in shallow lakes, such as those in Florida. The results of this study provide a basis for the development of a diatom biomonitoring index that would introduce more biological assessments to lake-management approaches. Such an index would further promote the successful conservation and management of the state’s freshwater resources.

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