Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica
Here we present a comprehensive review of the diversity revealed by research in limnology and microbial ecology conducted in Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) during the last two decades. The site constitutes one of the largest ice-free areas within the Antarcti...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/1424-2818/11/10/201/ 2023-08-20T04:01:58+02:00 Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica Carlos Rochera Antonio Camacho agris 2019-10-21 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Diversity; Volume 11; Issue 10; Pages: 201 Maritime Antarctica Byers Peninsula microbial mats virioplankton bacterioplankton protists next-generation sequencing Text 2019 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 2023-07-31T22:43:02Z Here we present a comprehensive review of the diversity revealed by research in limnology and microbial ecology conducted in Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) during the last two decades. The site constitutes one of the largest ice-free areas within the Antarctic Peninsula region. Since it has a high level of environmental protection, it is less human-impacted compared to other sites within the South Shetland archipelago. The main investigations in Byers Peninsula focused on the physical and chemical limnology of the lakes, ponds, rivers, and wetlands, as well as on the structure of their planktonic and benthic microbial communities, and on the functional ecology of the microbial food webs. Lakes and ponds in Byers range along a productivity gradient that extends from the less productive lakes located upland to the eutrophic coastal lakes. Their planktonic assemblages include viruses, bacteria, a metabolically diverse community of protists (i.e., autotrophs, heterotrophs, and mixotrophs), and a few metazooplankton species. Most of the studies conducted in the site demonstrate the strong influence of the physical environment (i.e., temperature, availability of light, and water) and nutrient availability in structuring these microbial communities. However, top-down biotic processes may occur in summer, when predation by zooplankton can exert a strong influence on the abundance of protists, including flagellates and ciliated protozoa. As a consequence, bacterioplankton could be partly released from the grazing pressure exerted by these protists, and proliferates fueled by external nutrient subsidies from the lake’s catchment. As summer temperatures in this region are slightly above the melting point of water, biotic processes, such as those related to the productivity of lakes during ice-free periods, could become even more relevant as warming induced by climate change progresses. The limnological research carried out at the site proves that Byers Peninsula deserves special ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island South Shetland Islands MDPI Open Access Publishing Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Livingston Island ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600) Byers ENVELOPE(-60.283,-60.283,-63.900,-63.900) Byers peninsula ENVELOPE(-61.066,-61.066,-62.633,-62.633) Diversity 11 10 201 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
Maritime Antarctica Byers Peninsula microbial mats virioplankton bacterioplankton protists next-generation sequencing |
spellingShingle |
Maritime Antarctica Byers Peninsula microbial mats virioplankton bacterioplankton protists next-generation sequencing Carlos Rochera Antonio Camacho Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Maritime Antarctica Byers Peninsula microbial mats virioplankton bacterioplankton protists next-generation sequencing |
description |
Here we present a comprehensive review of the diversity revealed by research in limnology and microbial ecology conducted in Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) during the last two decades. The site constitutes one of the largest ice-free areas within the Antarctic Peninsula region. Since it has a high level of environmental protection, it is less human-impacted compared to other sites within the South Shetland archipelago. The main investigations in Byers Peninsula focused on the physical and chemical limnology of the lakes, ponds, rivers, and wetlands, as well as on the structure of their planktonic and benthic microbial communities, and on the functional ecology of the microbial food webs. Lakes and ponds in Byers range along a productivity gradient that extends from the less productive lakes located upland to the eutrophic coastal lakes. Their planktonic assemblages include viruses, bacteria, a metabolically diverse community of protists (i.e., autotrophs, heterotrophs, and mixotrophs), and a few metazooplankton species. Most of the studies conducted in the site demonstrate the strong influence of the physical environment (i.e., temperature, availability of light, and water) and nutrient availability in structuring these microbial communities. However, top-down biotic processes may occur in summer, when predation by zooplankton can exert a strong influence on the abundance of protists, including flagellates and ciliated protozoa. As a consequence, bacterioplankton could be partly released from the grazing pressure exerted by these protists, and proliferates fueled by external nutrient subsidies from the lake’s catchment. As summer temperatures in this region are slightly above the melting point of water, biotic processes, such as those related to the productivity of lakes during ice-free periods, could become even more relevant as warming induced by climate change progresses. The limnological research carried out at the site proves that Byers Peninsula deserves special ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Carlos Rochera Antonio Camacho |
author_facet |
Carlos Rochera Antonio Camacho |
author_sort |
Carlos Rochera |
title |
Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
title_short |
Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
title_full |
Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Limnology and Aquatic Microbial Ecology of Byers Peninsula: A Main Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot in Maritime Antarctica |
title_sort |
limnology and aquatic microbial ecology of byers peninsula: a main freshwater biodiversity hotspot in maritime antarctica |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 |
op_coverage |
agris |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.500,-60.500,-62.600,-62.600) ENVELOPE(-60.283,-60.283,-63.900,-63.900) ENVELOPE(-61.066,-61.066,-62.633,-62.633) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Livingston Island Byers Byers peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula South Shetland Islands Livingston Island Byers Byers peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Livingston Island South Shetland Islands |
op_source |
Diversity; Volume 11; Issue 10; Pages: 201 |
op_relation |
Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d11100201 |
container_title |
Diversity |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
201 |
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1774712354447032320 |