keehah
7th September 2011, 12:14 PM
Should have been paying more attention to the globalist terrorists lurking in my neighbourhood?!? The Didymo!
It does not stink (much), nor feel as icky and slimy as more common polluted forms of water life this reminds most people of.
Seems other northern areas of Europe have related species, but not a type that grows as agressively in 'pristine' water.
http://www.treehugger.com/rock-snot-new-york.jpg
Rock snot algae clogs rivers, causing world-wide environmental problem (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/rock-snot-algae-clogs-rivers-causing-world-wide-environmental-problem/article2129159/print/)
Globe and Mail Aug. 14, 2011
Its nickname says it all.
Rock snot is a type of slimy, yellow-brown, freshwater algae that, like a cold, has spread quickly from a small area on Vancouver Island two decades ago.
It's now a “global invasive species,” scientists say, spreading rapidly from B.C. to locations such as Iceland, New Zealand and across North America — including Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick.
Leif-Matthias Herborg, the aquatic invasive species co-ordinator for the B.C. Ministry of Environment, said experts don't know why didymosphenia geminata, or didymo, spread so quickly.
Data as far back as the 1880s shows didymo has been native in rivers in a small area near Nanaimo, B.C., but around 1990 it started to spread.
“We don't know why, but that's when suddenly we had a series of years of really big blooms which kind of spread across Vancouver Island,” Dr. Herborg said.
“And then in subsequent years it started to spread around the world … It's kind of a global invasive species.”
While obnoxious looking, didymo isn't a threat to human health, but it can potentially alter food webs in rivers and could impact the fish, said Max Bothwell, a scientist with Environment Canada.
“However, the evidence for this is mixed, and the effects of didymo on trout seem to depend on the species and the particular circumstances. There is no evidence that didymo blooms have harmed salmon populations anywhere in the world,” Dr. Bothwell said in an email to The Canadian Press.
It usually invades pristine rivers and watersheds and is hard to miss under the water, Dr. Herborg said.
“It looks like a shag carpet basically — you know, one of those '70s numbers — rolled out on the bottom.”
It's only when it's removed from the water when it looks “snotty, so to speak,” he said with a chuckle.
There's also an economic and recreational impact, Dr. Herborg said, when fish guides take their clients deep into what's supposed to be pristine and untouched areas.
Didymo can slough off the bottom of the river during high water flow. When it dries on the river banks, it often looks like dried-up toilet paper, causing people to think there's a sewage problem in the river.
“It greatly degrades the recreational experience,” Dr. Herborg noted.
Experts agree the most common cause of the spread of didymo is on the bottom of the felt-soled hip waders of recreational fishermen.
At least one manufacturer is phasing out the production of the felt-soles, and those types of waders have been banned in Alaska.
But Dr. Bothwell said anything that moves water or microbes can spread didymo.
Didymo needs a stable rocky bottom and stable water flows to do well, and wouldn't survive in many of Canada's waterways, he said.
Dr. Herborg said they aren't sure why it does so well in what are pristine, nutrient-poor rivers.
“We don't know if suddenly someone introduced a different strain, or if something happened to the native population and it changed in a way,” he said. “It's still a big unknown.”
The only way to get rid of it would be to use chemicals, Dr. Herborg said, which is not an option when the ecological impact on everything else in the river is considered.
Boulder researcher helps crack mystery behind 'rock snot' (http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_18204434)
06/05/2011
"Diatoms pretty much grow everywhere, whether it's really clean water or waters that are relatively impacted," said Sarah Spaulding, a researcher at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "Generally, the more nutrients you get in the water, the more biomass you get.
"What's different about this diatom is that we found it would make a large amount of biomass where there weren't many nutrients in the water."
This has allowed rock snot, an invasive species in North America, to explode in streams that have not historically supported large algae blooms. In a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the scientists explain how Didymo does it.
The key is Didymo's stalks, which keep the algae attached to the rocks. The stalks are able to collect the limited phosphorous nutrients available in the stream on their surfaces along with iron. Then, bacteria that live in the rock snot mats interact with the accumulated iron to make the phosphorous easier for the algae to use.
"Even though the phosphorous is low in concentration, the stalk strips it right out of the water and concentrates it right on the stalk," said Spaulding, who also works as an ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. "We found that the stalk also strips iron out of the water, which is crucial to part of the process."
The study may help land managers identify which streams may be susceptible to rock snot invasions.
"It also has the potential to lead to discoveries that may stem this organism's prolific growth in rivers around in the world," said P.V. Sundareshwar, lead author of the study and a researcher at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Canada.com, August 16, 2011: 'The dynamo from Nanaimo — rock snot — spreading rapidly worldwide (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Lavigne+hired+aide+scout+property+Trial/2341079/Floods+windfall+coal+miners/4059963/dynamo+from+Nanaimo+rock+snot+spreading+rapidly+wo rldwide/5263184/story.html)
Didymo, a little invading dynamo from the Nanaimo area, has spread to foreign waters, thanks to felt-soled waders worn by travelling fishermen.
And even though the fresh-water algae travels via soles, not the nose, it's better known as "rock snot."
The species is native to Vancouver Island. It started to spread in the early 1990s, shortly after the introduction and widespread use of felt-bottom waders, said Matthias Herborg, a local aquatic invasive species expert with the B.C. Ministry of Environment.
...That's a turn-off for recreational users expecting "nice, clean, fast-flowing rivers where people go to experience nature," Herborg said.
Instead, they find "these unsightly blooms" in what are traditionally fly-fishing streams.
...Over the next five to 10 years, scientists started seeing densities that hadn't been seen before.
From there it spread across the world, beginning in Iceland.
"The big thing was when it reached New Zealand in the mid-2000s - and from there it spread really rapidly," said Herborg.
A new finding in B.C.'s Kootenays region, where the species had never been reported before, created the recent uproar, said Herborg.
"And it has a catchy name: rock snot. People like that."
It does not stink (much), nor feel as icky and slimy as more common polluted forms of water life this reminds most people of.
Seems other northern areas of Europe have related species, but not a type that grows as agressively in 'pristine' water.
http://www.treehugger.com/rock-snot-new-york.jpg
Rock snot algae clogs rivers, causing world-wide environmental problem (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/rock-snot-algae-clogs-rivers-causing-world-wide-environmental-problem/article2129159/print/)
Globe and Mail Aug. 14, 2011
Its nickname says it all.
Rock snot is a type of slimy, yellow-brown, freshwater algae that, like a cold, has spread quickly from a small area on Vancouver Island two decades ago.
It's now a “global invasive species,” scientists say, spreading rapidly from B.C. to locations such as Iceland, New Zealand and across North America — including Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick.
Leif-Matthias Herborg, the aquatic invasive species co-ordinator for the B.C. Ministry of Environment, said experts don't know why didymosphenia geminata, or didymo, spread so quickly.
Data as far back as the 1880s shows didymo has been native in rivers in a small area near Nanaimo, B.C., but around 1990 it started to spread.
“We don't know why, but that's when suddenly we had a series of years of really big blooms which kind of spread across Vancouver Island,” Dr. Herborg said.
“And then in subsequent years it started to spread around the world … It's kind of a global invasive species.”
While obnoxious looking, didymo isn't a threat to human health, but it can potentially alter food webs in rivers and could impact the fish, said Max Bothwell, a scientist with Environment Canada.
“However, the evidence for this is mixed, and the effects of didymo on trout seem to depend on the species and the particular circumstances. There is no evidence that didymo blooms have harmed salmon populations anywhere in the world,” Dr. Bothwell said in an email to The Canadian Press.
It usually invades pristine rivers and watersheds and is hard to miss under the water, Dr. Herborg said.
“It looks like a shag carpet basically — you know, one of those '70s numbers — rolled out on the bottom.”
It's only when it's removed from the water when it looks “snotty, so to speak,” he said with a chuckle.
There's also an economic and recreational impact, Dr. Herborg said, when fish guides take their clients deep into what's supposed to be pristine and untouched areas.
Didymo can slough off the bottom of the river during high water flow. When it dries on the river banks, it often looks like dried-up toilet paper, causing people to think there's a sewage problem in the river.
“It greatly degrades the recreational experience,” Dr. Herborg noted.
Experts agree the most common cause of the spread of didymo is on the bottom of the felt-soled hip waders of recreational fishermen.
At least one manufacturer is phasing out the production of the felt-soles, and those types of waders have been banned in Alaska.
But Dr. Bothwell said anything that moves water or microbes can spread didymo.
Didymo needs a stable rocky bottom and stable water flows to do well, and wouldn't survive in many of Canada's waterways, he said.
Dr. Herborg said they aren't sure why it does so well in what are pristine, nutrient-poor rivers.
“We don't know if suddenly someone introduced a different strain, or if something happened to the native population and it changed in a way,” he said. “It's still a big unknown.”
The only way to get rid of it would be to use chemicals, Dr. Herborg said, which is not an option when the ecological impact on everything else in the river is considered.
Boulder researcher helps crack mystery behind 'rock snot' (http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_18204434)
06/05/2011
"Diatoms pretty much grow everywhere, whether it's really clean water or waters that are relatively impacted," said Sarah Spaulding, a researcher at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "Generally, the more nutrients you get in the water, the more biomass you get.
"What's different about this diatom is that we found it would make a large amount of biomass where there weren't many nutrients in the water."
This has allowed rock snot, an invasive species in North America, to explode in streams that have not historically supported large algae blooms. In a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the scientists explain how Didymo does it.
The key is Didymo's stalks, which keep the algae attached to the rocks. The stalks are able to collect the limited phosphorous nutrients available in the stream on their surfaces along with iron. Then, bacteria that live in the rock snot mats interact with the accumulated iron to make the phosphorous easier for the algae to use.
"Even though the phosphorous is low in concentration, the stalk strips it right out of the water and concentrates it right on the stalk," said Spaulding, who also works as an ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. "We found that the stalk also strips iron out of the water, which is crucial to part of the process."
The study may help land managers identify which streams may be susceptible to rock snot invasions.
"It also has the potential to lead to discoveries that may stem this organism's prolific growth in rivers around in the world," said P.V. Sundareshwar, lead author of the study and a researcher at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Canada.com, August 16, 2011: 'The dynamo from Nanaimo — rock snot — spreading rapidly worldwide (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Lavigne+hired+aide+scout+property+Trial/2341079/Floods+windfall+coal+miners/4059963/dynamo+from+Nanaimo+rock+snot+spreading+rapidly+wo rldwide/5263184/story.html)
Didymo, a little invading dynamo from the Nanaimo area, has spread to foreign waters, thanks to felt-soled waders worn by travelling fishermen.
And even though the fresh-water algae travels via soles, not the nose, it's better known as "rock snot."
The species is native to Vancouver Island. It started to spread in the early 1990s, shortly after the introduction and widespread use of felt-bottom waders, said Matthias Herborg, a local aquatic invasive species expert with the B.C. Ministry of Environment.
...That's a turn-off for recreational users expecting "nice, clean, fast-flowing rivers where people go to experience nature," Herborg said.
Instead, they find "these unsightly blooms" in what are traditionally fly-fishing streams.
...Over the next five to 10 years, scientists started seeing densities that hadn't been seen before.
From there it spread across the world, beginning in Iceland.
"The big thing was when it reached New Zealand in the mid-2000s - and from there it spread really rapidly," said Herborg.
A new finding in B.C.'s Kootenays region, where the species had never been reported before, created the recent uproar, said Herborg.
"And it has a catchy name: rock snot. People like that."