Diatoms from desert playas in southern California

The diatom flora of Lake Eyre South: a large episodically filled salt lake in South Australia

“…The species in Lake Eyre South closely fits the recent illustrations and description ofN. # indicates taxa reported from saline lakes and playas in western North America (Patrick, 1936;Van Landingham, 1966;Felix & Rushforth, 1979;Busch & Kubly, 1980;Hammer, 1983). Table 1.…”

“…The dominant species in Lake Eyre South, Nitzschia pusilla Grun., is a common species in several systems in southern Africa. This diatom species has apparently not been previously reported from athalassic systems in Australia (Tudor, 1973;Foged, 1978;Brady, 1983;Thomas, 1983;John, 1983, Blinn et al, 1989, or from similar systems in North America (Patrick, 1936;Castenholz, 1960;Van Landingham, 1966;Verch & Blinn, 1971;Blinn, 1972;Felix & Rushforth, 1979;Busch & Kubly, 1980;Czarnecki et al, 1981;Galat etal., 1981;Hammer et al, 1983;Kaczmarska & Rushforth, 1983 ;Cloern et al, 1983). This diatom species has apparently not been previously reported from athalassic systems in Australia (Tudor, 1973;Foged, 1978;Brady, 1983;Thomas, 1983;John, 1983, Blinn et al, 1989, or from similar systems in North America (Patrick, 1936;Castenholz, 1960;Van Landingham, 1966;Verch & Blinn, 1971;Blinn, 1972;Felix & Rushforth, 1979;Busch & Kubly, 1980;Czarnecki et al, 1981;Galat etal., 1981;Hammer et al, 1983;…”

“…Lake Eyre South has only 14 taxa (42%) in common with the diatom flora of the Great Salt Lake, a NaCl dominated system in Western USA (Patrick 1936, Felix & Rushforth, 1979, and the desert playas throughout southern California (Busch &Kubly, 1980) andNevada, USA (Van Landingham, 1966) (Table 1). Likewise, there are only five taxa (Amphora coffeleiformis (Ag.)…”

Photosynthesis of cryptobiotic soil crusts in a seasonally inundated system of pans and dunes in the western Mojave Desert, CA: Field studies

“…In our study site, soil MC changes on a small spatial scale (e.g., in pans as the water level rises and falls) over relatively homogeneous physical and biological substratum. Based on existing knowledge, photosynthesis by the biotic constituents of the crusts decreases both above and below a narrow moisture optimum , and little or no assimilation occurs under inundated conditions (Busch and Kubly, 1980). Current knowledge in this field is based largely on laboratory rather than field studies, and on lichen rather than algal/cyanobacterial crusts (Lange, 2001;Veste et al, 2001); further, what data do exist for the algal crusts, are for a restricted set of crust types.…”

Diatom Community Structure Along Physicochemical Gradients in Saline Lakes

“…Other studies include Castenholz's (1960) study of the attached diatom communities in two saline lakes in the Grand Coulee region of Washington, and phytoplankton surveys by Galat et al ( 1981) on Pyramid Lake, Nevada; Sze and Kingsbury ( 1972) on Onondaga Lake, New York; Verch and Blinn (1971) on Devils Lake, North Dakota, and Blinn (1972) on Stump Lake, North Dakota. More restricted studies on diatoms have been conducted in Mono Lake, California (Mason 1 96 7, Herbst and Bradley 1989), Big Soda Lake, Nevada (Cloern et al 1983), Abert Lake, Oregon (Herbst and Bradley 1989), and several playa lakes in southern California (Busch and Kubly 1980). In contrast, Bailey (1922), Kuehne (l94la,b), Hammer et al ( 1983), and Hammer ( 1986) have provided extensive surveys of diatoms in over 50 lakes in the saline lake district of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada.…”