Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: thedoc on 18/07/2013 06:30:02
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Dave asked the Naked Scientists:
I am currently doing some field studies on oscillatoria, specifically benthic cyanobacteria in brackish water.
Could you suggest a good web site to assist me, as I am struggling to find any relevant info.
I am keen to research how it spawns gnats and how the weather affects it.
I have no formal science background, but have been drawn into science by your podcast (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/).
Regards
Dave
What do you think?
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Oscillatoria are tiny thread-like algae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae) living in freshwater pools. They get their energy from photosynthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis).
A microscope is recommended for studying the tiny threads of these algae.
Wikipedia is usually a good place to start for an overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscillatoria (but maybe not in this case)
The references at the bottom of the page often gives pointers to more details.
Google will always give you lots of information, at varying level of detail. www.google.com
For the real details, use Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en
Gnats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnat) are insects, which are quite different from algae; they live in the same pond as the oscillatoria, but are not the seeds of the algae.