Current Research Interests of Rex. L. Lowe
Synopsis of Current Research.
I work primarily with a community of organisms on the bottoms of aquatic habitats, called benthic algae. Benthic algae constitute the base of the food web in most shallow lakes and rivers and are thus important to the overall productivity and health of aquatic ecosystems. I'll divide this summary in three sections that represent the three current major foci of my research program.
1. Diatom biodiversity in New Zealand. This project began with a year's sabbatical at the New Zealand Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research (NIWA) in 1991-1992. Through collaborative research efforts with my New Zealand colleague, Dr. Biggs, we have come to appreciate that the diatom flora of New Zealand is largely endemic and undescribed. With the support of NIWA and the National Science Foundation we are in the process of collecting and documenting the diatom flora of New Zealand. We have formed an additional collaboration with Cathy Kilroy, a freshwater phycololgist at NIWA.
2. Diatom biodiversity in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This project is part of an international effort to document every living species with a diverse ecosystem, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and is a component of Susan Makoskyıs masterıs thesis. This ATBI (All-Taxa Biological Inventory) is part of a larger project entitled Discover Life in America. Please see our web page at Discoverlife.org for details.
3. The impact of zebra mussel invasion on food webs in the Great Lakes. In 1987 an exotic mollusk, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), arrived in the Great Lakes that has resulted in one of the most dramatic and rapid alterations of the food web ever witnessed in these important bodies of water. My laboratory has been central in documenting the changes and developing a conceptual model for future changes. Our SCUBA-based research centered in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay has received in excess of $300,000 in external grant funding to pursue this research. We have currently shifted our research attention to northern Lake Michigan where zebra mussels are associated with recent outbreaks of the filamentous green alga Cladophora. This research is being pursued by Ricky Carter as part of his doctoral dissertation.
4. The impact of anthropogenic chemicals on stream ecosystem health. This fourth major research area is my most applied and has increased my research programs relevance outside academia. This research is funded by substantial grants from the Procter and Gamble Company. We are employing the Procter and Gamble Experimental Stream Facility in Milford, Ohio (near Cincinnati) to test the potentially adverse effects of consumer products from Procter and Gamble on stream ecosystems. Procter and Gamble's vigilance in testing new surfactants and other new chemicals has won the company a prestigious award as an environmentally sound company. My research laboratory is solely responsible for determining the impact of their test chemicals on stream benthic algal communities.
In summary, these four major research thrusts represent a continuum from relatively esoteric research (biodiversity) to highly applied research (impact of anthropogenic chemicals on stream ecosystem health) with the zebra mussel research bridging this continuum.
Recent Externally-funded Grant Projects
1. Impact of Alkyl Dimethyl Ammonium Chloride (DHAC) on Tile and Cobble Periphyton. The Procter & Gamble Company, Contract supplement 1999
2. Algal Analyses from the Pacific Northwest. U. S. Geological Survey. 4/99-5/00
3. Impact of High Solubility Alkyl Sulfate (HSAS) on Periphyton in the Procter and Gamble Experimental Stream Facility (ESF). The Procter & Gamble Company. 6/99-12/00
4. Biogeography of Diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) in New Zealand. The National Science Foundation, 2/00-12/02
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