Life Sciences Commons^™

Spatiotemporal Diversity Of Alpine Snow Algae Communities In The Pacific Northwest, Rachael C. Mallon

WWU Graduate School Collection

Snow algae are the dominant primary producers of snowy alpine environments and have recently been thrust into the public spotlight for contributing to glacial melt by decreasing snow albedo. These microbial communities are subject to extreme temperature regimes, high irradiance, low nutrient levels, and freeze-thaw cycles on daily, seasonal, and even long-term climatological changes. Although snow algae have been described on every continent, the spatiotemporal diversity of snow algae communities across snowy habitats has not been addressed. The natural geography and climate of the Pacific Northwest provides diverse snowy alpine ecosystems to study the effects of latitude, elevation, and precipitation …