Current News

CC professor receives grant to survey algae in freshwater lakes and ponds on East Coast

June 01, 2004

For immediate release - June 1, 2004
Contact: Eric Cárdenas (860) 439-2508; ecard@conncoll.edu

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The National Science Foundation's Biotic Survey and Inventory Program (BS&I) has a huge task: to figure out what organisms are on the planet. And it has awarded Peter Siver, Charles & Sarah P. Becker '27 Professor of Botany and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Connecticut College, a three-year, $310,000 grant to focus on one of the tiniest parts.

Siver, along with co-researcher Paul B. Hamilton of the Canadian Museum of Nature, will provide a detailed survey of two biologically diverse and ecologically important groups of microscopic, single-cell algae in freshwater lakes and ponds along the east coast of North America.

The project, "RUI: Documenting, Understanding and Conserving the Biodiversity of Freshwater Siliceous Algae in Coastal Ponds Along Eastern North America," will focus on microscopic algae known as scaled chrysophytes and diatoms. These algae are integral components of all aquatic habitats and are among the best-known organisms used by scientists to detect changes in our nation's water resources.

Data from water bodies along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador and the Canadian Arctic will be added to data in existing databases of freshwater lakes located on the East Coast. Siver plans to train and employ Connecticut College undergraduates interested in taxonomy and ecology issues to assist in the research. The researchers will use high-resolution light and scanning electron microscopy to document all species and archive samples in national museums.

Siver said he hopes to illustrate the distribution of these organisms for specific regions along the coast, describe new species to science, evaluate the relative importance of chemical variables vs. climate-related factors in shaping and controlling the distribution of these organisms and to yield confident students with a high degree of taxonomic skill.

The BS&I program began in 1991 to discover and document biological species diversity of all forms of life on Earth. Special emphasis is put on taxonomic groups of organisms that are poorly known, such as bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi and invertebrates, and in geographic regions that are poorly surveyed.

The award is effective May 1, 2004, through April 30, 2007.

Ranked among the most selective private liberal arts colleges in the nation, Connecticut College has an enrollment of 1,850 men and women from 45 states, the District of Columbia, and 35 countries. The college is particularly known for interdisciplinary studies, innovative international programs, paid internships, a wide range of student-faculty research opportunities and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college operates under an 82-year-old honor code and has no Greek system. The scenic 750-acre campus is managed as an arboretum and overlooks Long Island Sound. For more information, see www.conncoll.edu. Connecticut College is located at 270 Mohegan Ave., New London. -CC-

For media inquiries contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu