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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: diatom
Synonyms and Other Names: Thalassiosira fluviatilis, Micropodiscus weissflogii, Coscinodiscus fallax
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification:
This cylindrical diatom occurs singly or in groups and may sometimes be found enveloped in a gelatinous matrix. The shape of the valve face varies. There is one labiate process and 2 or more central processes forming an irregular ring. The number of central processes as well as the degree of silicification are believed to vary with salinity. Irregularly shaped areolae, striations, a marginal ring of processes, a marginal ring of spines, and thick radial ribs may also occur on the valve face (Lowe and Busch 1975; Kiss et al. 1984; Lee and Yoo 1986; Johansen and Theriot 1987; Ferrario et al. 1989; Sala 1997; Vrieling et al. 1999).
T. weissflogii can measure anywhere from 4–32 µm in diameter (Lowe and Busch 1975; Belcher and Swale 1977; Kiss et al. 1984; Lee and Yoo 1986; Johansen and Theriot 1987; Ferrario et al. 1989; Richardson and Cullen 1995; Sala 1997; Lomas and Glibert 1999).
Size: 4-32 microns diameter
Native Range:
Unclear. T. weissflogii is considered widespread. It is known from European and Asian coastal waters and some inland rivers and reservoirs; rivers in North America; inland waters of South America; and Hawaii and the Solomon Islands (Lowe and Busch 1975; Belcher and Swale 1977, 1986; Lee and Yoo 1986; Sivasubramanian and Rao 1988; Ferrario et al. 1989; Mills et al. 1993; Sala 1997).
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences: T. weissflogii was first recorded in 1962 from the Detroit River, which connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. It was recorded from Lake Michigan in 1967, Lake Erie in the 1970s, and the Portage River in the Lake Erie drainage in 1973. It has also been recorded from Lake Ontario (Millie and Lowe 1981; Mills et al. 1993).
Ecology: T. weissflogii occurs in freshwater, brackish, and marine habitats. It is probably best adapted to the latter two and some experiments indicate that it grows best at higher salinities (Ferrario et al. 1989; Mills et al. 1993; Vrieling et al. 1999). However, this species has exhibited abundant growth in freshwater conditions in the Great Lakes. It attained 74% abundance by biovolume in Lake Michigan during sampling in 1972-1973, although it only reached 11% abundance by biovolume in this lake during the 1973-1974 sampling period (Lauer 1976; Lauer and Mccomish 1976).
This species has been found to be a halophilous fresh water form, widely distributed. It has been found ocasionally in water from Lake Michigan subjected to chloride contamination. (Stoermer and Yang 1969).
T. weissflogii is non-toxic but is often associated with assemblages that form blooms in red tides (Bricelj et al. 1991; Yamaoka et al. 1998). It can grow well at concentrations of 10% CO2 but at 20% CO2 its growth significantly decreases (Ishida et al. 2000). Growth rates tend to increase with increasing temperature (Lomas and Glibert 1999). It is known to grow in waters with relatively high pH, around 8–9.4 (Sala 1997).
This species, like many other diatoms, is capable of a sexual reproduction phase. Moreover, the control of cell size is genetically linked to sexual reproduction. Cell size increases when sexual reproduction occurs and decreases when the asexual cycle begins. Sexual reproduction can be triggered either by reaching minimum cell size or by an external trigger such as changing light intensity (Armbrust and Chisholm 1992; Armbrust 1999; Armbrust et al. 2001; Sorhannus 2003).
Depending on the environment in which it occurs, various nutrients may be limiting or have a controlling effect on growth or cell processes. These nutrients may include nickel, zinc, iron, nitrogen, and silicon (Price and Morel 1991; Morel et al. 1994; Lee et al. 1995; Berges et al. 1996; Maldonado and Price 1996; Tortell and Price 1996; De La Rocha and Passow 2004).
Means of Introduction: T. weissflogii was very likely introduced in ballast water to the Great Lakes basin (Mills et al. 1993).
Status: Established where recorded.
Impact of Introduction: Unknown.
Remarks:
References
Armbrust, E. V. 1999. Identification of a new gene family expressed during the onset of sexual reproduction in the centric diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65(7):3121-3128.
Armbrust, E. V. and H. M. Galindo. 2001. Rapid evolution of a sexual reproduction gene in centric diatoms of the genus Thalassiosira. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67(8):3501-3513.
Armbrust, E. V. and S. W. Chisholm. 1992 Patterns of cell size change in a marine centric diatom: variability evolving from clonal isolates. Journal of Phycology 28:146-156.
Belcher, J. H. and E. M. F. Swale. 1977. Species of Thalassiosira diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) in the plankton of English rivers. British Phycological Journal 12(3):291-296.
Belcher, J. H. and E. M. F. Swale. 1986. Notes on some small Thalassiosira species (Bacillariophyceae) from the plankton of the lower Thames and other British estuaries identified by transmission electron microscopy. British Phycological Journal 21(2):139-146.
Berges, J. A., D. O. Charlebois, D. C. Mauzerall, and P. G. Falkowski. 1996. Differential effects of nitrogen limitation on photosynthetic efficiency of photosystems I and II in microalgae. Plant Physiology (Rockville) 110(2):689-696.
Bricelj, V. M., J. H. Lee, and A. D. Cembella. 1991. Influence of dinoflagellate cell toxicity on uptake and loss of paralytic shellfish toxins in the northern Quahog Mercenara mercenaria. Marine Ecology Progress Series 74(1):33-46.
De La Rocha, C. L. and U. Passow. 2004. Recovery of Thalassiosira weissflogii from nitrogen and silicon starvation. Limnology and Oceanography 49(1):245-255.
Ferrario, M. E., R. G. Godina, and M. C. Domorenea. 1989. About some freshwater centric diatoms from Argentina. Iheringia Serie Botanica 39:55-68. (in Spanish)
Ishida, Y., N. Hiragushi, H. Kitaguchi, A. Mitsutani, S. Nagai, and M. Yoshimura. 2000. A highly CO2-tolerant diatom, Thalassiosira weissflogi H1, enriched from coastal sea, and its fatty acid composition. Fisheries Science (Tokyo) 66(4):655-659.
Johansen, J. R. and E. Theriot. 1987. The relationship between valve diameter and number of central fultoportulae in Thalassiosira weissflogii (Bacillariophyceae). Journal of Phycology 23:663-665.
Kiss, K. T., K. Kovacs, and E. Dobler. 1984. The fine structure of some Thalassiosira spp. (Bacillariophyceae) in the Danube and the Tisza Rivers, Hungary. Archiv fuer Hydrobiologie Supplement 67(4):409-415.
Lauer, T. E. 1976. Principal components ordination of southern Lake Michigan USA phytoplankton. Journal of Phycology 12(suppl.):8-9.
Lauer, T. E. and T. S. Mccomish. 1976. Phyto plankton population dynamics of the inshore waters of southern Lake Michigan near Michigan City, Indiana, USA, from June 1973 to May 1974. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 85:151.
Lee, J. G., S. B. Roberts, and F. M. M. Morel. 1995. Cadmium: a nutrient for the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. Limnology and Oceanography 40(6):1056-1063.
Lee, J. H. and K.-I. Yoo. 1986. A study on the fine structure of the marine diatoms of Korean coastal waters, genus Thalassiosira. Journal of the Korean Society of Oceanography 21(3):184-192.
Lomas, M. W. and P. M. Glibert. 1999. Interactions between NH4+ and NO3- uptake and assimilation: comparison of diatoms and dinoflagellates at several growth temperatures. Marine Biology 133:541-551.
Lowe, R. L. and D. E. Busch. 1975. Morphological observations on two species of the diatom genus Thalassiosira from fresh-water habitats in Ohio. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 94(1):118-123.
Maldonado, M. T. and N. M. Price. 1996. Influence of N substrate on Fe requirements of marine centric diatoms. Marine Ecology Progress Series 141:161-172.
Millie, D. F. and R. L. Lowe. 1981. Diatoms new to Ohio and the Laurentian Great Lakes. Ohio Journal of Science 81(5):195-206.
Mills, E. L., J. H. Leach, J. T. Carlton, and C. L. Secor. 1993. Exotic species in the Great Lakes: a history of biotic crises and anthropogenic introductions. Journal of Great Lakes Research 19(1):1-54.
Morel, F. M. M., J. R. Reinfelder, S. B. Roberts, C. P. Chamberlain, J. G. Lee, and D. Yee. 1994. Zinc and carbon co-limitation of marine phytoplankton. Nature (London) 369(6483):740-742.
Price, N. M. and F. M. M. Morel. 1991. Colimitation of phytoplankton growth by nickel and nitrogen. Limnology and Oceanography 36(6):1071-1077.
Richardson, T. L. and J. J. Cullen. 1995. Changes in buoyancy and chemical composition during growth of a coastal marine diatom: ecological and biogeochemical consequences. Marine Ecology Progress Series 128(1-3):77-90.
Sala, S. E. 1997. Diatom flora of Paso de las Piedras impounding, Buenos Aires Province IV: Order Centrales. Gayana Botanica 54(1):1-14. (in Spanish)
Sivasubramanian, V. and V. N. R. Rao. 1988. Uptake and assimilation of nitrogen by marine diatoms I. Kinetics of nitrogen uptake. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Plant Sciences 98(2):71-88.
Sorhannus, U. 2003. The effect of positive selection on a sexual reproduction gene in Thalassiosira weissflogii (Bacillariophyta): results obtained from maximum-likelihood and parsimony-based methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution 20(8):1326-1328.
Tortell, P. D. and N. M. Price. 1996. Cadmium toxicity and zinc limitation in centric diatoms of the genus Thalassiosira. Marine Ecology Progress Series 138(1-3):245-254.
Vrieling, E. G., L. Poort, T. P. M. Beelen, and W. W. C. Gieskes. 1999. Growth and silica content of the diatoms Thalassiosira weissflogii and Navicula salinarum at different salinities and enrichments with aluminium. European Journal of Phycology 34:307-316.
Yamaoka, Y., O. Takimura, H. Fuse, K. Murakami, S. Kitao, M. Saeki, S. Watanuki, and M. Aihara. 1998. Growth of red tide phytoplankton using glass powder containing nutrients. Technical note. Seibutsu-Kogaku Kaishi 76(4):153-157.
Other Resources: Great Lakes Diatoms
Author: Rebekah M. Kipp
Contributing Agencies: 
NOAA - GLERL
Revision Date: 8/13/2007 Citation for this information:
Rebekah M. Kipp. 2009. Thalassiosira weissflogii. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1693> Revision Date: 8/13/2007
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