Schizotrichacean cyanobacteria from central Spitsbergen (Svalbard)

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Komárek, J. (Jiří), Kováčik, L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: ecology; genus Schizothrix; taxonomy; Norway; Petuniabukta; Svalbard; Tundra; Lapland; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-013-1402-9; http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0231331

The phenotypic characterization and genetic identification of cyanobacteria according to modern polyphasic approach are difficult, especially in the case of coccoid and simple trichal and fine morphotypes with restricted morphological features. Molecular evaluation is not always possible because of the difficult transfer of all the natural populations into culture; exact characterization of natural material is therefore desirable. In several extreme habitats of central Spitsbergen (vicinity of Petuniabukta) morphologically distinct species of the genus Schizothrix were recognized. They were evidently specific and important constituents of different biocenoses of the Svalbard tundra ecosystems. Several of them did not correspond to any cyanobacteial morphospecies, described up to now in the literature. Two species described from similar localities in Swedish Lapland and one species known from the Atlantic coasts of N. Norway were recognized, and two taxa were described as new species.