ALGAE OF THE SONORAN DESERT IN ARIZONA Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Cameron, R. E. (Roy E.) Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 14:19:58 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/284403 ALGAE OP THE SONORAN DESERT IN ARIZONA by Roy Eugene Cameron A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1961 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Roy Eugene Cameron entitled ALGAE OF THE SOKORAN DESERT III ARIZONA be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy j^crvuu*- XT. (SjfJji Hk) Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and reconmend its acceptance:* * " //^i^K/°*^ "f/ji/i, / jUtJftf t 1 L ( *This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT ESI AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfill­ ment of requirements for an advanced degree at The Univer­ sity of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Li­ brary. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknow­ ledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in their Judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship^ In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: DvruAfr PRANCTS OftdTO iSTEe Research Professor of 3otany TABLE OF CONTENTS page INTRODUCTION 1 BLUE-GREEN ALGAE 6 CHROOCOCCACEAE 6 Anacyatia Menegh 6 Coccochloria Spreng 10 Gomphoaphaerla Kuetz 12 CHAMAiSIPHOHACEAE 13 Entophyaalls Kuetz 13 3 J?I GON EM A TA C EA E 15 Hapaloaiphon Naeg 15 Nostochopals Wood 16 Stlgonema Ag. 16 >! OS'TOCAC EAE 17 Anabaena Bory 17 Cylindrospermum Kuetz 19 Nodularla Mert 20 No a toe Vauch 22 RIVULARIACEAE 28 A:nphlthrlx Kuetz 28 Calothrlx Ag 29 Dlohothrix Zanard 30 3 G'S TON AT A C EA E 31 i page Auloaira Kirchn 31 Scytonema Ag 32 Tolypothrlx Kuetz 36 03CILLAT0RIACEAE 36 Arthroaoira Stizenb 37 Lyngbya Ag 37 Microcoleua Desmaz 1+0 Oacillatorla Vauch. ex Deav 1+9 Phormidium Kuetz 56 Plectonema Thur 59 Porphyro9iphon Kuetz 62 Schizothrix Kuetz 61+ Spirullna Turp 71 Symploca Kuetz 72 GRE3N-ALG-AE 73 V0LV0CAC3AE 73 Pandorlna Bory 73 Protococcus Ag 71+ TETRA3P0HACEAE 75 Palmogloea Kuetz 75 Tetraapora Link 76 ULOTHRICACSAK 77 Microapora Thur 77 Stichococcua Naeg 79 ii page Ulothrlx Kuetz 79 CHAETOPHORACEAE 60 Aphanochaete (Naeg.) A. Br 80 Chlorotyllum Kuetz 8l Draparnaldia 3ory 8l Phytoconls Bory 82 StlReoolonium Kuetz 82 ULVACEAE 83 Enteromorpha Link 83 CLADOPHORAGEAE 83 Cladophora Kuetz 83 Plthophora Wittr 85 Rhizoclonium Kuetz 85 -OED0-30NIACEA3 86 Oedogjonlum Link 87 CHARAGIAGEAS 88 Gharaclum A. 3r 88 HYDRODIGTYAGEAE 89 Hydrodlctyon Roth 89 PhOTOSIPHONACEAE 90 Protoaiphon Kleba 90 00CYSTAC3AE 91 Anklstrodeamua Gorda 91 Ghlorella Beij 92 iii page Oocyatla Naeg 92 Trochiacla Kuetz 93 S C ENTSD^SM A C TiA E 93 Scenedeamus Meyen 914- ZYGNMATACEAE 9i+ Mougeotla Ag 95 Spirogyra Link 95 Zygnema Ag 96 MESOTAENIACEAE 96 Cyllndrocy at la Menegh 97 DESMIDIACEA3 97 Oloaterlum Nitzach 98 Coamarlum Corda 99 Oocardlum Naeg. 101 Pleurotaenlum Naeg 102 CHARAC2AE 102 Chara Vaill. ex L 103 Nltella Ag 10$ -Tolypella (A. 3r.) Leonh 106 YELLOW-GREEN ALOAE 106 TRIBONMATACEAE 106 Trlbonema Derb. <5c Sol 106 BOTRYDIACEAE 107 Botrydlum Wallr. «, 107 iv page VAITGHERIACEAE 108 Vaucheria DC 108 CHRY30M0NADS 108 OCHROMONADACSAE 108 0chromonaa Wysaotzki 109 DIATOMS 109 EUrVLENOIDS 110 EUGL EN EA C EA E 110 Su,a;lena Ehrenb 110 Phaeua Dujard 111 DINOFLAGELLATES 112 PERI DINIAOEAE 112 Perliinium Ehrenb 113 RED ALGAE 113 ERTHR0THRICHIAC5AE 113 Compoaopogon Mont 113 THR0R3ACEAE 113 Thorea Bory 111+. CONCLITSION 115 LITERATURE CITED 116 v INTRODUCTION The rough, arid Sonoran Desert includes much of southern Arizona. Its northern boundary follows a diagonal line from the upper Gila River to Havasu Lake in the Colo­ rado River; its terrain of l|.0,000 square miles is in gen­ eral that described by Shreve and Wiggins in Shreve (1951» p.[|. and map 2)• Water is especially deficient in the area. The rain­ fall ranges from approximately 3 inches a year at Yuma to 11 inches at Tucson, distributed about equally through the summer and winter months. The only river with perennial flow is the Colorado. Other principal rivers, the Gila, the Santa Cruz, and the San Pedro vary seasonally in volume and in the distances to which their flood waters are carried into the plains. The numerous mountain ranges rise gently or abruptly and generally receive more rainfall than do the areas of lower elevation. The Santa Catalina, Rincon, Santa Rita, Santa Teresa, Penaleno, Gaiiuro, Chiricahua, Huachuca, Dos Cabezas, and Baboquivari Mountains all exceed 6,000 feet in elevation and are located in the southeastern part of the state- As indicated by Shreve (1951» the Sonoran Desert lies mostly below 3»000 feet in elevation. 2 The vascular plant vegetation determines the extent of the Sonoran Desert according to Shreve (1951* P*2). The roughest terrain, as noted by the same author in Kear­ ney and Peebles (1950, p.lij.), is occupied by plants such as Cercidlum spp. (palo verde), and Carneglea glgantea (En- gelm.) Britt. & Rose (saguaro)« This association ia bor­ dered below by Larrea trldentata (DC#) Coville (creosote- bush) and Atriplex polycarpa (Torr.) Wats, (desert sait- bush). Prosopls spp. (mesquite), Saiix spp»(willow), and Populua app. (cottonwood) are abundant near the washes; Franaeria deltoldea Torr. (bur-aage) ia conapicuoua in the sandy bottoms of waahea. The algae occurring in the Sonoran Desert constitute part of the rather homogeneous algal flora of southwestern United States and northweatern Mexico. They occupy soil and water not shaded by larger plants; the vascular plants are widely separated and the ground under them is frequently disturbed by animals. The indispensable factors controlling the growth of the algae, according to apeciea, appear to be the amounts of water and direct sunlight that they receive. The algae occupy three general habitata in the re­ gion: (1) permanent bodies of water such aa lakea, atreama, canals, ponds, hot and cold springs, and cattle tanks; (2) intermittent atreama and rainpools and temporarily wet beda and banka of waahes and ravines; and (3) almoat negligible depressions on the soil where water stands for very short 3 periods after rains. It has been noted by Drouet (19^3, P.II4.5; i960, p.31) that aigal soil crusts, occupying the third category of habitats above, form the most abundant ground cover in the deserts of California and Nevada; this appears also to apply for this area. Moss and lichen crusts also contribute to the ground cover in moist places. Until the past few years only occasional specimens of algae were studied and preserved from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The earliest collections were made by C. G. Pringle at Tucson in April l88l; Pringle also explored the Santa Rita Mountains and the Santa Cruz River in 1881—-82. T. S. Wilcox collected an algal specimen from Port Huachuca in 1892—914-. In 1939—it-0 Francis Drouet collected along the Colo­ rado River at Yuma.and, with Donald Richards, preserved material from Sabino Canyon, from the campus of the Univer­ sity of Arizona, and from the Coyote Mountains. C. J. Hambleton, Jr. collected algae from Hooker's Hot Springs in the Galiuro Mountains in March 19ii.O. A. Okemah and P. A. Barkley took a specimen from the San Xavier Indian Reservation near Tucson in July 19lj-l, an(* J. Francis Macbride and Prank W. Gould collected random specimens in Arizona, particularly in Pima, Pinal, and Mari­ copa Counties between 194-5 and 19k-7» Undesignated species of soil algae from the desert were reported by J. E. Fletcher and W. P. Martin (19il-8, p.97) and by W. H. Puller and R. N» k Rogers (1952, and from an irrigation ditch by J» M. Breazeale (1929, p.10), but no specimens were preserved in herbarisT# Between 1957 a*id 1959 Janet D. Wien collected specimens In the Salt River Valley, some of which were examined for this study. The author collected 101 speci­ mens of soil algae during the period 1956--58, an addi­ tional 913 specimens from diverse habitats were added to the author's personal herbarium between 1959 and 1961* Also examined for this study were 136 specimens from the personal herbarium of Francis Drouet. Others who have contributed specimens include Joe A. Beatty, William F. Faust, Joel E. Fletcher, Wallace H. Fuller, Richard S. Felger, John Gerdes, Leslie N. Goodding, Robert L. Hall, Richard H. Hevly, Roger M, Jordan, Lora M. Shields, and Kenneth J. Torgerson, Although the samples were taken randomly from the designated area, those collected from Pima County outnumber those collected In other counties.