Date of Award

8-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Biology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Meiyin Wu

Committee Member

Yang Deng

Committee Member

Matthew Schuler

Abstract

To combat the spread of invasive and nuisance aquatic species, recreational boating has many recommendations and regulations in place for boaters to properly treat their boats in between uses in separate locations. While protection procedures are in place for preventing the spread of invasive mussel and plant species, there is no sufficient procedure in regard to the spread of cyanobacterial species. The objective of this study was to investigate whether common drying procedures employed in these treatment practices were capable of additionally preventing the spread of cyanobacterial species so as they may help prevent the spread of algal blooms throughout different freshwater bodies. This study employed the use of microscope slides simulating common recreational boat hull materials and the exposure they would experience during extended use in conditions of algal blooms, after which different drying treatments were applied. These drying treatments were used to analyze the effectiveness of commonly suggested drying periods for other nuisance species upon these cyanobacterial species and were analyzed afterwards through the culturing of the slide contents to determine whether or not the cells were still capable of growing into a new population. This study demonstrated that the widely used 5-day drying duration had no effect on the ability for the cyanobacterial species to grow in comparison to the cultures that experienced no such drying period, and in addition found that there was no significant difference in taxa richness found in the cultures. These results imply that the currently widely used 5-day drying method may not be sufficient for the prevention of the spread of cyanobacterial species. Revised policy is needed to better stop recreational boaters from cross contaminating separate water bodies with cyanobacteria.

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