Date of Last Revision
2023-05-02 23:48:27
Major
Biology
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Date of Expected Graduation
Spring 2017
Abstract
Diatoms, one of the most common classes of phytoplankton, are autotrophic plankton, and are the primary food source for many organisms. Diatoms play a key role in nearly all oceanic food webs. Under stressful conditions, diatoms can undergo biological changes that produce cytotoxic secondary metabolites such as polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUA’s). This process is a form of allelopathy, utilized by many algae as a defense mechanism against predation, as well as to inhibit competitors. Microzooplankton are an essential part of these aquatic food webs as well, as they are a key herbivore in many oceanic environments. A set of experiments was performed using dissolved PUA (2E,4E-octadienal and 2E,4E-heptadienal), natural phytoplankton and microzooplankton, and the copepod Acartia tonsa. This study focused on the effectiveness of PUA’s in inhibiting microzooplankton predation on marine phytoplankton, as well as the extent of growth rate reduction of diatom competitors. The results of this study showed significant changes in phytoplankton grazing loss rates for picoplankton and larger phytoplankton in the presence of PUA in 8 of 10 experiments. On the other hand, PUA treatments did not induce significant changes in the phytoplankton growth rates.
Research Sponsor
Dr. Peter Lavrentyev
First Reader
Dr. Randall Mitchell
Second Reader
Dr. Anne Wiley
Recommended Citation
Alfman, Chase, "The Effects of Polyunsaturated Aldehydes on Pelagic Microbial Food Webs in the Chesapeake Bay Area and Atlantic Coastal Waters" (2017). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 542.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/542