A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude
A decrease in biodiversity and density of terrestrial organisms with increasing altitude and latitude is a well-known ecogeographical pattern. However, studies of these trends are often taxonomically-biased toward well-known organisms and especially those with relatively large bodies, and environmen...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2019
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3494 https://doaj.org/article/22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a 2023-05-15T13:37:09+02:00 A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude Krzysztof Zawierucha Craig J. Marshall David Wharton Karel Janko 2019-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3494 https://doaj.org/article/22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a EN eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3494/9239 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 1751-8369 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3494 https://doaj.org/article/22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-12 (2019) Altitudinal gradient Antarctica ecosystem variability orographic clouds Darwin Glacier soil moisture Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3494 2022-12-31T06:42:16Z A decrease in biodiversity and density of terrestrial organisms with increasing altitude and latitude is a well-known ecogeographical pattern. However, studies of these trends are often taxonomically-biased toward well-known organisms and especially those with relatively large bodies, and environmental variability at the local scale may perturb these general effects. Here, we focus on understudied organisms—soil invertebrates—in Antarctic deserts, which are among the driest and coldest places on Earth. We sampled two remote Antarctic sites in the Darwin Glacier area and established an altitudinal gradient running from 210 to 836 m a.s.l. We measured soil geochemistry and organic matter content and linked these parameters with the presence of soil invertebrates. We found three general outcomes, two of which are consistent with general assumptions: (a) the hostile climatic condition of the Darwin Glacier region supports an extremely low diversity of soil metazoans represented by a single nematode species—Scottnema lindsayae; (b) soil geochemistry is the main factor influencing distribution of nematodes at the local scale. Contrary to our expectations, a positive correlation was found between nematode density and altitude. This last observation could be explained by an additional effect of soil moisture as we found this increased with altitude and may be caused by orographic clouds, which are present in this region. To the best of our knowledge such effects have been described in tropical and temperate regions. Potential effect of orographic clouds on soil properties in polar deserts may be a fruitful area of ecological research on soil fauna. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Darwin Glacier Polar Research Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Darwin Glacier ENVELOPE(159.000,159.000,-79.883,-79.883) Polar Research 38 0 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Altitudinal gradient Antarctica ecosystem variability orographic clouds Darwin Glacier soil moisture Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
Altitudinal gradient Antarctica ecosystem variability orographic clouds Darwin Glacier soil moisture Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 Krzysztof Zawierucha Craig J. Marshall David Wharton Karel Janko A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
topic_facet |
Altitudinal gradient Antarctica ecosystem variability orographic clouds Darwin Glacier soil moisture Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
A decrease in biodiversity and density of terrestrial organisms with increasing altitude and latitude is a well-known ecogeographical pattern. However, studies of these trends are often taxonomically-biased toward well-known organisms and especially those with relatively large bodies, and environmental variability at the local scale may perturb these general effects. Here, we focus on understudied organisms—soil invertebrates—in Antarctic deserts, which are among the driest and coldest places on Earth. We sampled two remote Antarctic sites in the Darwin Glacier area and established an altitudinal gradient running from 210 to 836 m a.s.l. We measured soil geochemistry and organic matter content and linked these parameters with the presence of soil invertebrates. We found three general outcomes, two of which are consistent with general assumptions: (a) the hostile climatic condition of the Darwin Glacier region supports an extremely low diversity of soil metazoans represented by a single nematode species—Scottnema lindsayae; (b) soil geochemistry is the main factor influencing distribution of nematodes at the local scale. Contrary to our expectations, a positive correlation was found between nematode density and altitude. This last observation could be explained by an additional effect of soil moisture as we found this increased with altitude and may be caused by orographic clouds, which are present in this region. To the best of our knowledge such effects have been described in tropical and temperate regions. Potential effect of orographic clouds on soil properties in polar deserts may be a fruitful area of ecological research on soil fauna. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Krzysztof Zawierucha Craig J. Marshall David Wharton Karel Janko |
author_facet |
Krzysztof Zawierucha Craig J. Marshall David Wharton Karel Janko |
author_sort |
Krzysztof Zawierucha |
title |
A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
title_short |
A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
title_full |
A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
title_fullStr |
A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
title_full_unstemmed |
A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
title_sort |
nematode in the mist: scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3494 https://doaj.org/article/22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(159.000,159.000,-79.883,-79.883) |
geographic |
Antarctic Darwin Glacier |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Darwin Glacier |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Darwin Glacier Polar Research |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Darwin Glacier Polar Research |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-12 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3494/9239 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 1751-8369 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3494 https://doaj.org/article/22bc1b2d402b491a9f99dfd1b5b61e6a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3494 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
0 |
_version_ |
1766088694886825984 |