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Date of Award

Spring 2024

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Environmental Science

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Sciences

First Advisor

Kodner, Robin

Second Advisor

Bunn, Andrew Godard

Third Advisor

Bunn, Rebecca

Abstract

Snow algae, commonly known as pink snow, bloom in high alpine environments globally. Snow algae blooms are on every continent, but the biodiversity within them is under studied. The snow habitat is suitable for algae growth in the spring and summer months when liquid water is available in snowpacks. Diverse terrain in alpine systems can create unique and variable snow habitats as snow melts through the growing season. This study describes the biodiversity of blooms from a site, Mt. Watson, in the North Cascade Mountain Range. The measures of biodiversity assessed include species richness, alpha diversity, beta diversity, and genetic diversity. The study site hosts blooms in distinct microhabitats including snow fields, glacial snow, and melt ponds which are also known as rock pools. We characterized community composition using amplicon sequencing of the 18S small subunit ribosomal rRNA (SSU) and Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit (rbcL) genes over three years. The cosmopolitan Sanguina dominated this site across both year and habitat type with only two exceptions. First, the 18S SSU gene revealed Chloromonas muramotoi was the dominant species in all but one snow sample (snow field or glacial snow) in 2022. Second, the 18S SSU gene also revealed Haematococcus as the dominant genus in many of the melt ponds. Multivariate analysis of the 18S SSU and rbcL amplicon data suggests there is a difference in community composition across years, with 2022 having a different species composition than 2020 and 2021. Additionally, we saw a difference in community composition across microhabitats. Snow samples had consistent composition regardless of if they came from snow fields or glacier snow. Melt ponds, however, had a distinct composition from the snow, despite snow melt water being the source of the habitat. Collectively, these findings support both aerial and swimming dispersal of snow algae.

Type

Text

Keywords

snow algae, Sanguina, pink snow, North Cascades, Chloromonas, Haematococcus, amplicon sequencing

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1439215554

Subject – LCSH

Algae--Washington (State)--Watson, Mount; Niche (Ecology); Snow ecology--Washington (State)--Watson, Mount; Plant-snow relationships--Washington (State)--Watson, Mount; Biodiversity--Washington (State)--Watson, Mount

Geographic Coverage

Watson, Mount (Wash.); North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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