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Assessment of Environmental Genomics of Aquatic Systems in National Capital Region Parks: Emphasis on the algal communities associated with the nuisance diatom Didymosphenia geminata. While water quality monitoring programs are already in place to oversee trends in health of NCR aquatic resources, these programs are not specifically designed to detect the appearance of nuisance species such as the diatom Didymosphenia geminata, which may present but at low abundance, or to assess more fine-scale characteristics of streams such as the taxonomic diversity and functional potential of the resident microbial communities. Fortunately, new genomic technologies such as metagenomics and metabarcoding are gaining traction as valuable additions to existing monitoring programs worldwide due to their ability to characterize aquatic community structure and function at reasonable cost, and at a level of sensitivity never before available. Here, we present data on an ongoing metagenomics and metabarcoding study of select stream sites collected from among all 11 NCR parks in 2014 and 2015 in order to assess differences in taxonomic and functional diversity in streams with and without D. geminata.

Amphibians Focus of New Statewide Study: A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and published this week offers compelling evidence that amphibian populations across the country are declining at a rate of almost 4 percent per year.