debor042

Polar bear! In the EVERGLADES?!?! So how many of you know the poem "Algy"? " Algy met a bear. The bear met Algy. The bear was bulgy. The bulge was Algy ." I think my dad sang "Algy" to me when I was a little tyke, though in my 3-year-old wisdom I must have taken "Algy" as "Algae" and from then on aspired to become a phycologist. Now, some attribute this verse to Ogden Nash, while others chalk it up to Anonymous (that great and varied writer!). And while this verse may be humorous, it's not truly nonsense (though this sentence is). I've seen analysis of Algy and the bear as an allegory for existentialist being (what does it mean "to be"?), while others just say (spoiler alert) that the bear ate Algy. BUT, I think they're all wrong as a result of a translational error where "Algy" should be "Algae" as my 3-year-old self clearly realized. THEREFORE: Looks a little green 'round the edges. ...

I admit that I ended that last post a bit unclear. But diatoms, it should be said, aren’t (or, rather, shouldn't be said since I shouldn't use double negatives. Ah, well.). Not physically, that is; you see, diatom cell walls are made of silica (glass), and that feature is actually incredibly important (not to mention gives rise to beautiful 'micromanipulations' like this one by Klaus Kemp - different colors in part because of different thicknesses of their glass). Diatoms arose between 180 and 225 million years ago – youngsters in the algal world (compare that to the geezer cyanobacteria of 3+ billion – way vintage) – and in so doing utilized an under-used, widely available resource that set them apart. The genealogy (or “systematics”) of diatoms has since expanded to include anywhere from 20,000 to over 1 million species that span almost every aquatic or semi-aquatic habitat imaginable – oceans, lakes, rivers, moss, soil. In those habitats they can be suspended in ...

This post was written by Nick Schulte, a Master's student in Evelyn Gaiser's lab at Florida International University.  So where would you go to study how Everglades algae respond to increased nutrients from sea level rise? The Florida Everglades, right? That’s what I thought. But I went to Iowa. Iowa Lakeside Laboratory , more specifically, on the shores of Lake Oko boji (yes, I still confuse it with that big lake in the northern ‘Glades). A bit clearer but still unhelpful? This summer I attended two courses at Lakeside: Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms and Ecology and Systematics of Freshwater Algae. In that order – specific to general, that’s how it’s normally done, right? Start looking at the fineries of a specific group of algae (“the algae that live in glass houses”, or diatoms) and then see how they fit into the bigger picture of general phycology (“phykos” for “seaweed”). It actually makes a lot sense, especially when my research pays particular attention to the cha...