At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica.
Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ec2bc82ac21846dc93eee93654748689 2023-05-15T13:40:15+02:00 At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. Catarina Magalhães Mark I Stevens S Craig Cary Becky A Ball Bryan C Storey Diana H Wall Roman Türk Ulrike Ruprecht 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 https://doaj.org/article/ec2bc82ac21846dc93eee93654748689 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3446939?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 https://doaj.org/article/ec2bc82ac21846dc93eee93654748689 PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e44578 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 2022-12-31T03:46:29Z Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80°S). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in terms of trophic level diversity, were related to the weakly developed younger drifts (Hatherton and Britannia) with higher soil C/N ratio and lower total soluble salts content (thus lower conductivity). Our results indicate that an increase of ion concentration from younger to older drift regions drives a succession of complex to more simple communities, in terms of number of trophic levels and diversity within each group of organisms analysed. This study revealed that integrating diversity across multi-trophic levels of biotic communities with abiotic spatial heterogeneity and geological history is fundamental to understand environmental constraints influencing biological distribution in Antarctic soil ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Britannia ENVELOPE(-62.681,-62.681,-64.718,-64.718) Darwin Mountains ENVELOPE(156.250,156.250,-79.850,-79.850) Transantarctic Mountains PLoS ONE 7 9 e44578 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Catarina Magalhães Mark I Stevens S Craig Cary Becky A Ball Bryan C Storey Diana H Wall Roman Türk Ulrike Ruprecht At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80°S). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in terms of trophic level diversity, were related to the weakly developed younger drifts (Hatherton and Britannia) with higher soil C/N ratio and lower total soluble salts content (thus lower conductivity). Our results indicate that an increase of ion concentration from younger to older drift regions drives a succession of complex to more simple communities, in terms of number of trophic levels and diversity within each group of organisms analysed. This study revealed that integrating diversity across multi-trophic levels of biotic communities with abiotic spatial heterogeneity and geological history is fundamental to understand environmental constraints influencing biological distribution in Antarctic soil ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Catarina Magalhães Mark I Stevens S Craig Cary Becky A Ball Bryan C Storey Diana H Wall Roman Türk Ulrike Ruprecht |
author_facet |
Catarina Magalhães Mark I Stevens S Craig Cary Becky A Ball Bryan C Storey Diana H Wall Roman Türk Ulrike Ruprecht |
author_sort |
Catarina Magalhães |
title |
At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
title_short |
At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
title_full |
At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
title_fullStr |
At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
title_full_unstemmed |
At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica. |
title_sort |
at limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental antarctica. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 https://doaj.org/article/ec2bc82ac21846dc93eee93654748689 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.681,-62.681,-64.718,-64.718) ENVELOPE(156.250,156.250,-79.850,-79.850) |
geographic |
Antarctic Britannia Darwin Mountains Transantarctic Mountains |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Britannia Darwin Mountains Transantarctic Mountains |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e44578 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3446939?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 https://doaj.org/article/ec2bc82ac21846dc93eee93654748689 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044578 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e44578 |
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