As the Drunkytown Limnologist (limnology=study of inland water bodies), sorry I havent been around in a while...
As some of you know i study Golden Algae at OU trying to get my PhD... Anyway I have been sampling lakes on Fri-Sun in the Red River drainage OK/TX for the past month and a half (hence why i havent been posting near as much). I have sampled 63 different lakes from Tom, OK (Texarkana) to Clarendon, TX (Amarillo). These range from private farm ponds to the largest reservoirs. I am trying to make a distribution map of Golden algae using genetic detection techniques as well as a susceptibility map based on physical and chemical characters. And I am pretty damn proud of myself for getting it all done (well I am almost done for this year).
I've been doing this out of a project sponsored by the ODWC and the OU biostation, as Golden Algae has been blooming during the winter/early spring in Lake Texoma and killing fish since 2005. Well the this years bloom is dying off (we think) and I havent had a free weekend since it started, and am glad to have my weekends back soon (I am going to stop sampling once the bloom ends).
However, I need to be on the lookout for places to sample next year, so if anyone has some property in the red river drainage, Can I sample your pond (if not this year then next year)? I look at nutrients, physical characters, and the zooplankton and algae community.
I just thought some of you might be interested, Let me know if you are. here are some links for some additional info.
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/H/Karl.D...ae-public.html
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwate...ncerns/hab/ga/
BTW if you are ever looking to donate money to OU, we are always in need of $$$ to sponsor grad students like me and the summer school programs down here and are among the least funded of the OU peripherals so dont forget us (ok done panhandling)!!