Algal and Cyanobacteria Community Composition within Sarracenia purpurea Phytotelmata across the Eastern Seaboard of the United States

Lindsey A. Pett^1,*, Angélica L. González², and Nicholas J. Gotelli³

¹Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 05663. ²Department of Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 08103. ³Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 30, Issue 4 (2023): 467–485

First published early online: 16 December 2023

Abstract
The algal and cyanobacteria community inhabiting the rain-filled, cup-shaped leaves of Sarracenia purpurea (Purple Pitcher Plant) is understudied even though the Purple Pitcher Plant is regularly used as a model system in ecological research. To investigate this ecologically significant component, we surveyed the abundance and diversity of algal and cyanobacteria assemblages at 28 sites along a latitudinal gradient from the Florida panhandle to northern Maine. We then modeled the taxa assemblage across pitcher- and site-scale environmental gradients. Cyanobacteria responded positively to nutrient gradients at the pitcher scale, while algal composition and species richness responded to latitudinal and elevational gradients at the site scale. The algae and cyanobacteria inhabiting the Purple Pitcher Plant responded to multi-scale factors similarly to when they inhabit larger aquatic systems, highlighting the utility of studying this component of the Purple Pitcher Plant in experimental aquatic ecology.

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