1. Algae from the Great Salt Plains, OK, USA: Unexpected Range of Diversity and Halotolerance Andrea Kirkwood & William Henley Dept. of Botany, Oklahoma State Univ. www.okstate.edu/artsci/SPMO/ Mark & Julie Buchheim Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Tulsa Other PIs: Robert Miller (OSU) & Mark Schneegurt (Wichita State Univ.)

2. ~750 km Marine via migratory waterfowl Other Great Plains saline habitats Local soils and freshwater creeks Endemic for millenia (Permian brine) Sources of SP halotolerant microbes?

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Henley Lab Isolate (novel) algae/cyanobacteria from SPNWR soil/water Characterize isolates phylogenetically & physiologically Relate community species composition to spatial and temporal variation in salinity and other environmental conditions Photo © 2003 NAIP aerial image database

4. SPNWR conditions are harsh & variable…

5. 24 July 2002 5 August 2002 23 July 2002

6. SPNWR: many microhabitats in space/time How does such variability affect: - survival and physiology of individual taxa? - microbial community composition?

7. Some algae from SPNWR Geitlerinema Aphanothece Dunaliella Colonial! Dunaliella pennate diatoms heterocystous cyanobacterium Pico- chlorum

8. Example : Dunaliella Buchheim et al., in prep. SPMO endemism, adaptive radiation? MP Analysis of ITS-1 and ITS-2 data (SPMO isolates in blue)   

9. Kirkwood & Henley, submitted Salinity Tolerance Cyanos Diatoms Chloros  } 

10. Salinity-screening: Summary Note: Every soil/water sample yields algae @ <10% salinity media! 05101520 Salinity (%) ? Cyanobacteria Diatoms Chlorophytes

11. Clone Library vs. Isolates 16S rDNA clone library sequences closely matching culture isolates (Komvophoron sp.) Numerous clone library sequences with few cultured relatives

12. Future Work Compare clone libraries from soil/water to our culture isolates quant-/qualitatively, and use libraries to drive isolations. Compare morphological isolates vs. 16S/18S rDNA sequences and physiology: cryptic variation? Does salinity tolerance of algal/cyanobacterial isolates match field distributions? Characterize associations between algae/cyanos and bacteria Assess spatial/temporal changes in cyano/algal community (morphological ID? DGGE? ): is it predictable? Is there a quantifiable measure of microbial stress on the flats? What really matters – salt, UV, temp., nutrients?

13. www.bio.utexas.edu/research/utex

14. http://ccmp.bigelow.org/

15. QUESTIONS????