The effects of natural and anthropogenic factors on microbes decomposing the emerging macrophyte Scirpus Lacustris in prairie aquatic systems / Brij Verma

Emergent macrophytes, like Scirpus lacustris, are the foundation of the very high biological productivities of wetlands in the Northern Prairies of North America. Fungi and bacteria are the primary organisms that sequester carbon and nutrients from these macrophytes. Almost nothing is know about the process of microbial decomposition and how natural environmental factors and anthropogenic pollutants may impact the microbes associated with Scirpus as it decays while standing and after it falls into the water. Pond 50, located at the St. Denis National Wildlife area, Saskatchewan, Canada, was chosen as the study site because it is a wetland that typifies the prairie ecozone. First, a procedure to extract ergosterol, a molecule used to estimate living fungal biomass, from various environmental matrices was developed.Ergosterol was detected by high-pressure liquid chromatography with a UV detector (HPLC-UV) and corroborated by mass spectrometry analysis.Seasonal variations in fungal bio