Freshwater Algae from Millport Reservoir
Collected during the MSc Biology of Water Resource Management's April 2002 field trip to the Marine Station
Millport Reservoir was the water supply (now disused) for the island of Cumbrae. I collected some algal samples there while helping with a field course at the island's Marine Biology station. The picture shows Millport's famous Crocodile Rock.
The class remit was to perform a microbiological examination of the tourist beaches, then come up with (theoretical) design recommendations for sewage treatment, and for drinking water purification based on an old reservoir. We sampled the algae as a guide to the quality of the fresh water supply.
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(most algae are illustrated elsewhere in the pages: see INDEX, and are not reproduced on this page: see some other years, however.)Millport Reservoir Plankton
Chrysophyta Dinobryon dominant Diatoms: Asterionella Melosira (Aulacoseira) Gyrosigma Chlorophyta Botryococcus Chlorococcum (?) Closterium sp. Closteriopsis Mougeotia Pediastrum boryanum Scenedesmus quadricaudum Sphaerocystis Dinoflagellates: Ceratium Blue-greens: Anabaena Microcystis Oscillatoria
Millport Reservoir Periphyton
1:growing on dam walls: Chlorophyta: Cladophora dominant Mougeotia Oedogonium Pediastrum boryanum Spirogyra ?Tetraspora Diatoms: Cymbella Synedra ?acus Blue-greens: Chamaesiphon Oscillatoria 2: growing on spillway: Rhodophyta: Asterocystis Asterocystis has globular or oval cells arranged in a linear series within a gelatinous sheath, forming a false filament. The sheath may be branched. The bluish colour might lead one to suspect a cyanobacterium ("blue-green alga"), but the cells clearly have chloroplasts, more easily seen in some of the cells from the distal portion of the filament. The chloroplasts are stellate, but this is not very clear: look at the large cell in the fourth image. Chlorophyta: Chaetophora Cladophora Geminella Mougeotia 20µm Oedogonium 20µm Pediastrum
Stigeoclonium Ulothrix Diatoms: Asterionella Cymbella Gomphonema truncatum Blue-greens: Oscillatoria 3µm
John Kinross