lgal biofilms are microbial communities which influence ecosystem functions and processes in freshwater ecosystems. The biodiversity of these communities is incredibly sensitive to changes in environmental factors be them physical, chemical, or biological. Environmental degradation due to human activity can introduce nutrients and metals that could disturb these communities. For this study, we examined how the biodiversity of biofilm communities varies along streams with increasing human activity across northeast Ohio. We collected biofilm samples from 20 streams along a land use gradient from forested to intermediate and urban land use cover. Biofilms were samples from open- and closed-canopy patches by scrubbing rocks collecting the slurry and preserving with 2% glutaraldehyde. Algal community composition in the biofilm was assessed with a microscope at (400x) to the lowest practical taxonomic level (typically genus) and diversity was calculated using standard metrics like Shannon diversity index (SDI). Approximately 100 different taxa were found across the studies, and diversity was higher in forested streams (SDI = 2.13) than in urban streams (SDI = 2.0). However, streams with intermediate land cover demonstrated the highest diversity (SDI = 2.45). These results indicate that the high disturbance in urban streams only allows for a small subset of algal taxa to survive in this environment. Meanwhile in intermediate settings, human activities may support some algae taxa, which allows for a higher variety of taxa to thrive and demonstrate a higher diversity. This study showed that landscape conditions can influence algal community, and future data such as metal availability, nutrients, flow, and conductivity will be used to understand mechanistically how human activity influence stream characteristics and diversity of these communities.