Kathryn E. Thomas

TL;DR: Results identified that Level 5 was the most sensitive to track differences in the shoreline development among sites, and it is suggested that benthic algal biomonitoring programs focus on Level 5, despite the higher requirements of time, technical skill, and training.

TL;DR: Analysis of benthic algal pigments represents a viable and cost-effective bio-monitoring method for assessing anthropogenic effects on stream condition that merits further evaluation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the individual and cumulative influence of land-use drivers on nutrient concentrations for 29 Ontario tributaries flowing to Lake Erie and Lake Huron was quantified at multiple spatial scales; stream-water nutrients were sampled on 10 occasions between May and November 2012, and were also compiled from government records for concurrent (2012) and prior (2007, 2008, 2011) years.

TL;DR: It is suggested that use of algal pigments, a high through-put analysis, is a promising alternative compared to more labor-intensive and costly taxonomic approaches for defining algal community structure.

TL;DR: The authors' results demonstrate that episodic and continuous P enrichment may augment algal biomass similarly and regulated the composition of algal communities, and species specific responses of diatom assemblages to P enrichment and associated loading patterns suggests this taxonomic group may have potential for identifying the presence of key nutrient sources associated with eutrophication of stream ecosystems.