Summer Session 2011

Session I:

Field Herpetology - Geoffrey Carpenter
Forensic Entomology - Heather Ketchum
Molecular Techniques for Field Biology -
James Thompson and Ron Woodruff
Wildlife Conservation - Richard Kazmaier

Session II:

Field Mammalogy - Michael L. Kennedy
Forensic Botany - Adam Ryburn
Insect-Plant Interactions - Philip Morton
Introduction to Stream Ecology - William Stark

An Update on Prymnesium
Research at UOBS

The small, unicellular, toxigenic phytoplankter, Prymnesium parvum, has been the source of much attention in Lake Texoma since January 2004 when it first bloomed and resulted in the death of thousands of fish from Lebanon Pool on the Oklahoma shore eastward along the Texas shoreline to Preston Point. Subsequently, blooms have occurred in five of seven winters, but have been restricted to northwestern (Oklahoman) near-shore areas on the Red River arm of the lake between Wilson and Buncombe Creeks. With the assistance of generous funding from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, researchers in UOBS’ Plankton Ecology Lab (PEL) have spent the past six years unraveling the complex ecology of Prymnesium. By understanding the environmental conditions in the lake that promote Prymnesium blooms, and the ecological interactions between Prymnesium and other members of the aquatic community, the ultimate goal of our research is to develop the ability to predict, and possibly in the long term by lake management, control blooms of this invasive toxigenic algal species.

While much of the public attention directed toward Prymnesium is focused on fish kills and the potential negative consequences these fish kills may have on recreational and sport fishing (a major component of the regional economic engine associated with Lake Texoma), PEL researchers have discovered an even more

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