Assessment of the Environmental Genomics of Aquatic Systems in the National Park Service’s National Capital Region with Emphasis on the Algal Communities Associated with the Nuisance Diatom Didymosphenia geminata
Aaron Aunins - Genetics Biologist, Tim King - Fishery Biologist (Genomics), U.S. Geological Survey, Leetown Science Center
While water quality monitoring programs are already in place to oversee trends in health of NCR aquatic resources, these programs are not specifically designed to detect the appearance of nuisance species such as the diatom Didymospheniageminata, which may present but at low abundance, or to assess more fine-scale characteristics of streams such as the taxonomic diversity and functional potential of the resident microbial communities. Fortunately, new genomic technologies such as metagenomics and metabarcoding are gaining traction as valuable additions to existing monitoring programs worldwide due to their ability to characterize aquatic community structure and function at reasonable cost, and at a level of sensitivity never before available. Here, we present data on an ongoing metagenomics and metabarcoding study of select stream sites collected from among all 11 NCR parks in 2014 and 2015 in order to assess differences in taxonomic and functional diversity in streams with and without D. geminata.
