Join us March 12-13, 2013 in Providence, Rhode Island USA for the International Didymo Conference. Proudly hosted by the Invasive Species Action Network and Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel, the conference will bring together natural resource managers, researchers, conservationists, fishing clubs and others with an interest in learning more about didymo.
Didymosphenia geminata is freshwater diatom (a type of alga) that is spreading to river systems across the United States and around the world. Although historically D. geminata has been found across the northern hemisphere, recently this species has been noted as an aggressive invader with nuisance bloom behavior. Notably, novel detections of D. geminataacross eastern North America, New Zealand and South America have caused concern for managers and anglers. Researchers, managers, and anglers are all seeking to better understand this species. Scientists have interest in gaining knowledge in didymo biology, managers and conservation organizations are trying to protect our resources and handle public concerns, and anglers want to learn how to protect their fishing. There has been a considerable amount of new research that improves our knowledge of the biology, control, outreach and impacts of D. geminata and this conference will bring together leading scientists, managers and anglers to share their experiences.
Some of the primary topics that we will address at the conference include the following:
Didymo biology - Topics such as what controls stalk growth, determining the phylogeny of D. geminata collected world-wide, effects of nuisance blooms on aquatic communities and determining physical parameters that affect survival and success.
Distribution and detection - Topics that address documenting the occurrence of nuisance blooms, what are the best predictive modeling tools, documenting non-bloom detections, and molecular methods to determine the presence of the species will be addressed.
Management - Topics such as best practices for decontamination of equipment and gear, lessons learned for controlling nuisance growth in regulated rivers, methods to destroy the species in aquatic systems and reactions to implementing policy and gear restrictions to limit the spread of the species to be covered.
Outreach - What are some of the different methods and varying degrees of success from outreach efforts.
Impacts to recreation activities - Discussions of how recreation activities have changed following introduction, and what have anglers experienced first-hand on the water will be addressed.
More info: http://www.stopans.org/Didymo_Conference_2013.htm
