2000 Final Report Summaries
Discover Life in America ATBI Grant Program
Otte - Report on Grasshoppers from the Balds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, with emphasis on the Viridipes Group of the genus Melanoplus (Insecta: Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Melanoplus)
Wetzel - The aquatic oligochaetes (Annelida, Oligochaeta) at selected sites in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wilhelm - Viruses and Bacterial Diversity in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park
| TITLE of Project: | Report on Grasshoppers from the Balds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, with emphasisThe Viridipes Group of the genus Melanoplus (Insecta: Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Melanoplus) |
| PROPOSAL # | |
| PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI): | Daniel Otte |
| PI DEPARTMENT: | Department of Entomology |
| PI ORGANIZATION: | Academy of Natural Sciences |
| POSTAL ADDRESS: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| PI ELECTRONIC MAIL: | otte@acnatsci.org |
| PI TELEPHONE: | |
| PI FAX: | |
| GRANT AMOUNT: | |
| SUMMARY of Activities and Results: | |
| INTRODUCTON
The principal goal of my project was to collect grasshoppers residing on the balds of Great Smoky Mountains , and to focus on the flightless species which might have speciated in this region. The taxonomy of the flightless grasshoppers in the eastern mountains of the United States is unstable and it has taken a thorough study of all of the eastern species to ascertain what species occurr in GSM. In this project I collected on GSM balds and on a number of balds surrounding the park, as well as areas more remotely separated from the park (in Virginia and West Virginia ). THE VIRIDIPES GROUP OF MELANOPLUS The genus Melanoplus is the world's largest grasshopper genus. Within this genus are a number of groups of species which may be thought of as subgenera, but are usually referred to as “species groups.” Among these is a group of eastern grasshoppers, most of which live in the Appalachian mountains from Georgia to New York . Since 1998 I have spent considerable time collecting members of this group along the Appalachian Mountain chain, mainly in an attempt to understand the kinds of barriers needed to produce speciation. This work also allowed me to solve questions on the limits of various species. Single individual collected from various sights were once thought to represent new species. However, additional collecting shows that they are only variants of existing species. This work does not yet clarify the position of the Viridipes Group within Melanoplus as a whole. That cannot be accomplished until all groups are studied. |
|
| TITLE of Project: | The aquatic oligochaetes (Annelida, Oligochaeta) at selected sites in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. |
| PROPOSAL # | |
| PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI): | Mark J. Wetzel |
| PI DEPARTMENT: | |
| PI ORGANIZATION: | Illinois Natural History Survey Center for Biodiversity |
| POSTAL ADDRESS: | Champaign, Illinois |
| PI ELECTRONIC MAIL: | mjwetzel@uiuc.edu |
| PI TELEPHONE: | |
| PI FAX: | |
| GRANT AMOUNT: | |
| SUMMARY of Activities and Results: | |
Purpose of investigation: The purpose of our investigation in calendar year 2000 was to continue surveys for aquatic oligochaetes (Annelida, Oligochaeta) at selected sites in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park . This was a continuation of a project begun in September 1999, funded by a mini-grant from Discover Life In America, Inc., as part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory project. Accomplishments supported by this award: DLIA funding received in 2000 supported surveys for aquatic oligochaetes at 9 stream sites and at two springs in the Park, 17-22 September. Six additional stream sites in the Park (Ravensford Tract) were surveyed for the presence of aquatic oligochaetes on 21 September, supported by supplementary funding provided by the National Park Service [report summarizing findings from the Ravensford Tract was submitted to Keith Langdon, NPS, in September 2001; see report citation below]. Summary of findings from work conducted in 2000: Aquatic oligochaetes were collected from all but two of the stream sites surveyed in 2002. Extensive information relating to the field work, accomplishments, and findings during 2000 are summarized on a website I established for this project in September 1999. This website was recently reorganized, to make it more user-friendly and navigable. |
|
| TITLE of Project: | Viruses and Bacterial Diversity in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park |
| PROPOSAL # | |
| PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI): | Steven W. Wilhelm |
| PI DEPARTMENT: | Department of Microbiology |
| PI ORGANIZATION: | University of Tennessee |
| POSTAL ADDRESS: | |
| PI ELECTRONIC MAIL: | wilhelm@utk.edu |
| PI TELEPHONE: | |
| PI FAX: | |
| GRANT AMOUNT: | |
| SUMMARY of Activities and Results: | |
The purpose of the award was to allow a UT student and the PI to begin to examine microbial diversity in the park. The original request was to do significant molecular work but funds were awarded at only 15% of the request. However, a series of short studies were carried out that have led to new funding from the National Science Foundation (ca $300,000 over 3 years) to look at cyanobacterial / viral interactions in freshwater systems. This work is currently in progress and uses one site (on Little River) as a field site. To date, the major publication arising from this is an article written and published in the ATBI newsletter, which has since been published in a journal: Wilhelm SW. 2002. Why care about the biodiversity of microbial communities in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ? SE Biology (Association of Southeastern Biologists) 49:387?388. It is expected that other data (bacterial and viral abundance, bacterial production, chlorophyll analysis) collected over and 18-month period will be included in an upcoming publication. |
|
