Snow algae in the northeastern U.S.: photomicrographs, observations, and distribution of Chloromonas spp, (Chlorophyta)

摘要

Each spring the waters of melting snowpacks revive a unique consortium of microbes and small invertebrates that thrive within this cold oligotrophic environment, While bacteria, fungi, protists, rotifers, tartigrades, and small insects such as Collembola (springtails) all inhabit springtime melting snow (Hoham et al. 1993), snow algae are generally the most conspicuous inhabitants. Populations of snow algae generally manifest as a red, orange, or green color within several centimeters of the snow surface (Hoham 1980; Kol 1968), and they may exceed 10~6 cells ml~(-1) of liquid meltwater (Hoham 1987). In high alpine regions such as in the western United States and in polar regions, expansive blooms of snow algae have been documented and studied extensively with regard to their adaptive capacity to withstand extreme environments (Bidigare et al. 1993; Hoham and Blinn 1979; Hoham and Ling 2000; Thomas 1972; Thomas and Dural 1995). While most studies from North America report snow algae from high alpine areas in the Sierra Nevada, Cascade, and the Rocky mountains, there are relatively few studies that have focused on snow algae from the northeastern United States and Canada (Dural 1993; Dybas 1998; Hoham et al. 1989, 1993).