P. C. Furey

Saint Catherine University, St. Paul, MN · Biology

Examination of algal assemblages from aerial environments around the globe, especially those from pseudoaerial habitats found on moistened rocks underneath waterfalls or around springs and seeps, reveals the presence of unique diatom floras. Yet, diatom assemblages from northern regions like Iceland remain understudied, especially those from the vo...

The effects of top-down (e.g., herbivory) and bottom-up (e.g., nutrient supply) processes on primary producers are often interdependent. In stream ecosystems, interactions between herbivorous grazers and physical factors, such as light and temperature, can alter the abundance and taxonomic composition of epilithic nitrogen (N) fixers. To examine ho...

Abstract: Attached algal and cyanobacterial taxa differ in their ability to exploit and tolerate the diversity of flow, irradiance, and temperature regimes typical of a heterogeneous riverscape. Understanding the drivers of the smallscale variation in algal taxonomic composition helps us predict the riverscape-scale effects of altered flow regimes,...

Motility in diatoms, largely focused on motile diatoms with complex raphe systems, remains understudied for diatoms with short raphe systems, like those in the genus Eunotia. Examination of motility in this weakly or slightly motile genus may provide unique insight into motility in diatoms overall, especially for raphid diatoms. Coverage of histori...

Consistent identification of diatoms is a prerequisite for studying their ecology, biogeography, and successful application as environmental indicators. However, taxonomic consistency among observers has been difficult to achieve because taxonomic information is scattered across numerous literature sources, presenting challenges to the diatomist. F...

The online diatom identification and ecological assessment guide, Diatoms of North America (https://diatoms.org), provides taxonomic, nomenclatural, and ecological information on over 1000 diatom species to date (Spaulding & al. 2021). In creating and maintaining species pages for the website and in supporting efforts to achieve taxonomic certifica...

Climate change and human activities may alter the structure and function of boreal peatlands by warming waters and changing their hydrology. Diatoms can be used to assess or track these changes. However, effective biomonitoring requires consistent, reliable identification. To address this need, this study developed a diatom voucher flora of species...

Attached algal and cyanobacterial taxa differ in their ability to exploit and tolerate the diversity of flow, irradiance, and temperature regimes typical of a heterogeneous riverscape. Understanding the drivers of the small-scale variation in algal taxonomic composition helps us predict the riverscape-scale effects of altered flow regimes, but micr...

Highlights of new, interesting, and emerging research findings on substratum‐associated microbiota covered from a survey of 2019 literature from primarily freshwaters provide insight into research trends of interest to the Water Environment Federation and others interested in benthic, aquatic environments. Coverage of topics on bottom‐associated or...

This survey of 2018 literature on substratum‐associated microbiota presents brief highlights on research findings from primarily freshwaters, but includes those from a variety of aquatic ecosystems. Coverage of topics associated with benthic algae and cyanobacteria, though not comprehensive, includes new methods, taxa new to science, nutrient dynam...

This review briefly highlights findings from a survey of 2017 literature on substratum-associated microbiota from a variety of aquatic environments, but primarily freshwaters. Centered on algae, cyanobacteria, and bacteria, topics covered include those of relevance to the Water Environment Federation, along with those of recent and emerging interes...

Environmental warming places physiological constraints on organisms, which may be mitigated by their feeding behaviour. Theory predicts that consumers should increase their feeding selectivity for more energetically valuable resources in warmer environments to offset the disproportionate increase in metabolic demand relative to ingestion rate. This...

This survey of literature on substratumassociated microbiota from 2016 includes highlights of research findings associated with algae, cyanobacteria, and bacteria from a variety of aquatic environments, but primarily freshwaters. It covers topics of relevance to the Water Environment Federation along with those of emerging or recent interest such a...

This survey of literature on substratum associated microbiota from 2015 highlights research findings associated with benthic algae and bacteria from a variety of aquatic environments, but primarily freshwaters. It focuses on topics of interest to the Water Environment Federation along with those of current emerging interest such as global change, o...

This review of literature on substratumassociated microbiota from 2014 highlights topics on benthic algae and bacteria from a range of aquatic environments, but focuses on freshwater habitats. Advances in pollution and toxin detection, assessment methods, and applications of new technologies are highlighted as are updates in taxonomy and systematic...

Differences in animal assemblages between an existing California State Park, the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area, and a proposed Expansion Area can be used to predict impacts to biological resources from Off Highway Vehicular (OHV) recreation because the two properties share similar topography, elevations, soils, and habitat types but diff...

Background/Question/Methods Toxic cyanobacteria are often associated with eutrophic lakes and estuaries, but in the nitrogen-poor Eel River of Northern California, benthic cyanobacteria have been implicated in at least 11 dog deaths over the last decade. The Eel River is a ~10,000 sq. km watershed in Northern California that flows through Coast R...

Proliferations of Didymosphenia geminata are becoming prevalent in rivers around the globe. In the Sierra Nevada of California, Didymosphenia and other taxa that produce mucopolysaccharide stalks (e.g., Gomphoneis, Cymbella) can dominate benthic environments, particularly in the altered hydrologic and thermal regimes downstream of dams. We compared...

A review of literature on substratrum-associated microbiotia from 2013 covers topics on benthic algae, bacteria and viruses from a range of aquatic environments, but focuses on freshwater ecosystems. Advances in laboratory, field, and assessment methods are highlighted as are updates in taxonomy and systematics. Aspects of water quality, waste-wate...

sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecologi...

This review of literature published in 2012 covers topics on substratum-associated microbiota (algae and bacteria) from a variety of aquatic environments, especially freshwater ecosystems. It is not a comprehensive review, rather aims to highlight aspects of methods, taxonomy and systematics, ecology, and current environmental issues such as nuisan...

The genus Frankophila Lange-Bertalot is characterized as a small chain-forming diatom with frustules held together by interdigitating marginal spines. Both valves of the species in this genus possess a short raphe at the distal ends. Five species of Frankophila have been recognized to date with most being described from subaerial habitats. Explorat...

Midge larvae (Pseudochironomus richardsoni Malloch) in the South Fork Eel River, California, weave retreats in mats of Cladophora glomerata (L.) Kütz. and graze on its algal epiphytes. Densities of these midges and their effects on Cladophora vary over time (seasonally, over the course of succession, and interannually) and space (down the drainage...

The limnology of offshore Lake Erie during periods of extensive (> 70%) ice cover was examined from ship borne sampling efforts in 2007 to 2010, inclusive. Dense and discrete accumulations of the centric filamentous diatom Aulacoseria islandica (>10 μg Chl-a/L) were located in the isothermal (b1 °C) water column directly below the ice and only dete...

Background/Question/Methods Nitrogen fixation has great potential to influence productivity, species assemblages, and food web interactions, particularly in N-limited stream ecosystems. Preliminary data from the South Fork Eel River basin indicate that N-fixation rates are often substantial, but highly variable in space and time. The interaction...

Several populations of Eunotia serra Ehrenberg were examined from the eastern and central USA, revealing significant morphological differences from the different sites investigated. Populations from some sites have two rimoportulae per valve, as opposed to other sites where populations have one rimoportula per valve. This last observation raises th...

Seasonal algal proliferations in river networks are typically short-lived (weeks-months) but spatially extensive. They mediate important ecological and biogeochemical exchanges within and between ecosystems. We are investigating correspondence of assemblage color with ecosystem function in the nitrogen-limited Eel River of northern California. Duri...

High altitude springs and headwater streams directly interact with atmospheric deposition and as a result may be useful first response bioindicators of changes in acid precipitation, i.e. from increased acid rain or mitigation efforts. We examined the diatom assemblages associated with bryophytes collected from high elevation springs and streams in...

1. In a nitrogen (N)-limited river subject to Mediterranean summer drought hydrology, the colour of macroalgal proliferations changed with successional and seasonal changes in epiphyte assemblages. New growth of the dominant macroalga, Cladophora glomerata, was green, as were proliferations of Oedogonium, Mougeotia and Spirogyra, which did not beco...

Background/Question/Methods Despite the vulnerability of aquatic food webs to global warming (Naiman et al. 2005) and their importance as integrators and sentinels of environmental change across landscapes (Williamson et al. 2008), there are few studies that span the required temporal and spatial scales to assess long-term effects of global climate...

Background/Question/Methods The filamentous green alga Cladophora hosts a complex epiphyte assemblage that varies in space and time, with important potential consequences for ecological function. In the South Fork Eel River watershed in northern California, the extent and color of macroalgal assemblages changes with watershed area and successional...

We provide a detailed light and electron microscopy description of Luticola grupcei sp. nov. from Mountain Baba, South-Western Macedonia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.A.. The species is characterized by lanceolate valves with shortly protracted ends, length 23-46 μm and breadth 8.5-10.5 μm. The striae are radiate throughout (15-1...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the Tennessee–North Carolina state-line is a biologically diverse region which has recently become the site of an All Taxon Biodiversity Inventory, an effort to chronicle species diversity by documenting all species in all phyla present within park boundaries. As a result of studies within the la...

Diatoms and other algae were collected and identified from subaerial habitats (wetwalls) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of a larger biodiversity survey of the Park. Algal collections were made across a range of moisture gradients and bedrock mineralogies with pH ranging from 3.8 to 7.7. None of the communities collected were entirel...

Subaerial algal assemblages, like those found on wet walls (moist vertical rock outcrops), are understudied communities and the factors that drive community dynamics in these environments are poorly understood. Due to the exposed and often vertical nature of these habitats, nutrients are predicted to be critical determinants of algal community stru...

Subaerial algal assemblages, like those found on wet walls (moist vertical rock outcrops), are understudied communities and the factors that drive community dynamics in these environments are poorly understood. Due to the exposed and often vertical nature of these habitats, nutrients are predicted to be critical determinants of algal community stru...

Morphological and ultrastructural variability of the diatoms, Discostella stelligera and Discostella elentarii, were examined from lakes Te Anau and Manapouri, located in Fiordland on the South Island of New Zealand. The objectives of this study were to examine and compare the size variability, frustule morphology, and ultrastructural detail of the...

Littoral benthic macroinvertebrate communities in lake reservoirs often are exposed to repeated fluctuations in water level, but little is known of the effects of drawdown on benthic community composition. We compared the taxonomic composition and spatial patterns of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in sediments of littoral areas in a reservoi...

Since the late 1990's, the National Park Service and Discover Life In America have taken on the ambitious task of completing an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). As one of the most species-rich areas in the temperate zone, GSMNP is considered a hot spot of biological diversity and has been designate...

To determine the influence of water level drawdown on littoral areas, we compared the temporal and spatial changes in the water column and sediment in the littoral region of a drinking water reservoir and a natural lake. The reservoir (Sooke) experiences more than six meters of seasonal drawdown compared to a nearby, morphometrically and trophicall...