Didymosphenia geminata (Lyngbye) M. Schmidt (1899)5 otherwise known as Didymo, is an unwanted organism in New Zealand8. It has been causing significant invasive blooms in New Zealand’s South Island Rivers and streams since its initial discovery in 2004. Its bloom of large slimy mat like structures made of copious amounts of extracellular stalk, can coat the river floors with a benthic mat of siliceous slime, coating the riverbeds stones, and causing an eyesore to our highly valued, picturesque rivers. It competes in the same ecosystem as our native periphyton but the question is, what characteristics, compared with other members of the same taxonomic group, make Didymo a pest in New Zealand. The unwanted invasive algae was first spotted during a routine periphyton inspection of the Waiau river in Southland late October 20044. Despite large scale attempts to restrict its spread through national awareness and decontamination programs, it has since spread far and wide over the......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1766
Approximate Pages: 7 (260 words per double-spaced page) |