I have noticed that many of the ponds in my area are dying or at least changing for the worse. Ponds that I have sampled recently are showing a severe decline in the diversity of micro flora and fauna. I sampled a pond in a public park nearby that I have sampled for years. Up until a year ago it was filled with rotifers, copepods, nematodes, volvox and many other life forms. My recent sample showed a predominance of Micrasterias furcata, with a sprinkling of other desmids and little algae such as spirogyra and little else. I have been seeing the same thing in ponds all around the area, which I find alarming, and have even had a letter to the editor of a local newspaper expressing my concern. Environmental biologists often sample waters as an indicator of the health of the enviroinment. What I'm seeing is telling me that the bottom of the food chain is in serious peril.
Micrasterias furcata
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Micrasterias furcata
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA