Diatoms of North America

Quotation from the 'Overview': Approximately 150 collections from 45 waterbodies situated along the Atlantic Coastal Plain were included in this volume. Three areas of focus, the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge (11 sites), The Croatan National Forest (9 sites) and the Bladen Lakes State Forest (7 sites), are located along the coastal portion of North Carolina. The North Carolina waterbodies included shallow wetlands, small ponds, lakes, larger lakes, and a series of canals cut through significant sections of vegetation, which ranged in size from small depressions of 0.4 ha in size to over 6,475 ha (Phelps Lake). In general, these waterbodies were shallow, less than 3 meters deep and monomictic, not freezing over winter. All sites were associated with pocosin (early settlers used this term to define a low swampy ground, like a wooded swamp) or Carolina bay vegetation characteristic of this portion of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (Richardson et al., 1981). A fourth area of study included 13 waterbodies siuated within the Pinelands National Reserve in southern New Jersey at the northern limit of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Pinelands National Preserve consists of sandy, well drained soils and is largely dominated by xerophytic vegetation. Observations of the diatom floras in five small Carolina bays situated on the Delmarva Peninsla in Maryland were also included in this work. The majority of the New Jersey and Maryland waterbodies were shallow lakes that would also be classified as warm monomictic. A total of 231 diatom taxa were recorded in the Atlantic Coastal Plain sites. 242 taxa were found in Cape Cod ponds, but not encountered further south in the Atlantic Coastal Plain sites. Additionally, 102 of the species reported from the Atlantic Coastal Plain were not found in Cape Cod waterbodies underscoring the fact that the diatom floras are different between the two regions.