Biology of the freshwater diatom Didymosphenia: a review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Features of the colonial diatom Didymosphenia are reviewed, especially D. geminata . Although there is a long record of its occurrence in north temperate regions, mass growths have been reported much more widely in recent years. Contrary to some statements in the literature, there are also reliable older records for the southern hemisphere, though the first report of mass growth was in New Zealand in 2004. The annual cycle of morphological changes in D. geminata in northern England, and probably elsewhere, includes a winter period when motile cells are attached to the substratum followed by spring when stalks start to develop. These raise cells into the water column and provide a site for phosphatase activity. Environmental factors associated with success include absence of extreme floods, high light, pH above neutral and nutrient chemistry. D. geminata often, but not always, occurs in waters where the N:P ratio is high for much of the year, but the key factor is the ratio of organic to inorganic phosphate. D. geminata thrives where organic P is predominant and the overall P concentration is low enough for organic P to be an important P source. It is unknown whether organic N can be used. Environmental changes increasing the relative importance of organic P are likely to favour D. geminata . Likely examples are increased N:P due to atmospheric N deposition and changes in form and seasonality of P release from organic-rich soils due to climatic warming. The nutrient chemistry of deep water released from dams to rivers also needs investigation. To what extent are genetic changes occurring in response to environmental changes and are new ecotypes spreading round the world? In spite of many adverse reports about D. geminata , such as detached mats blocking water pipes, there is still doubt about the extent to which it causes problems, particularly for fish. There have been few adverse effects on migratory salmonids in Europe and North America, but at least one report of harm to a brown trout population in USA. In New Zealand, it has caused serious problems for water sports, although it remains open to question how much adverse effect it has had on fish populations. If the presence of microcystins in or associated with D. geminata , as indicated recently for two populations, proves to be widespread and at sufficiently high concentration, their possible accumulation in fish requires study. Where control is required, this could be achieved by enhancing the ratio of inorganic to organic phosphate in the water early in the growth season. Practical ways to achieve this are suggested.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.004 | 0.004 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".