Molecular Biology Commons^™

Sarracenia Purpurea As A Model System For Aquatic Ecosystem State Changes And Their Impact On Bacterial Communities, Amanda Claire Northrop

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Aquatic ecosystems can undergo abrupt and long-lasting transitions from one state to another, often with negative ecological and economic consequences. With anthropogenic enrichment, aquatic ecosystems such as lakes and ponds may shift rapidly from an oligotrophic, clear water state to a eutrophic, turbid state. These shifts, or state changes, generally occur due to a phenomenon called hysteresis in which the relationship between a driving variable and ecosystem variable depend on the current state of the ecosystem. Such dynamics often make recovery difficult or impossible. Though state changes in aquatic ecosystems have been studied extensively since the 1970s, there have been …