Abstract
Glass microscope slides were immersed in the tiny Headwaters of a midwestern stream Achnanthes lanceolata (Breb.) Grunow was the dominant or co-dominant species in 14 out of 15 one-month-old communities over a two-year period. Minutely streaked, periphyton-free areas mostly lacked live diatoms but had cell-free mucilage pads and attached raphe valves of A. lanceolata. These pads, secure or peeling, had a distinct bas-relief impression of the raphe valve. Pad mucilage was associated with the puncta and raphe, and its presence in the puncta of raphe valves maximizes the surface for valve/substrate adhesion. Periphyton-free streaks in otherwise stable periphyton may represent areas where abrasion or grazing had killed or removed cells without dislodging the mucilage-secured raphe valves or valve-free mucilage pads. Important adaptive features of A. lanceolata for resisting graying and/or stream hydrodynamic forces appear to be: a sessile, low-profile, lanceolate life form with rounded apices; an attached rap...
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