Diatoms composing benthic microbial mats in freshwater lakes of Skarvsnes ice-free area, East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Taisuke Ohtsuka, Sakae Kudoh, Satoshi Imura, Shuji Ohtani
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Lake Biwa Museum 2006
• Subjects: benthic microbial mats; diatoms; East Antarctica; electric conductivity; freshwater lakes; Skarvsnes; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar bioscience
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6265; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006265/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6265&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Diatoms composing benthic microbial mats in Skarvsnes lakes, East Antarctica, were studied in terms of their taxonomy and relationship to environmental factors. Samples were collected from 13 freshwater lakes in the area. Amphora sp. (cf. veneta) was dominant in 11 of the 13 samples, while Craticula sp. (cf. molesta) and Diadesmis sp. (cf. perpusilla) were respectively dominant in the remaining 2 samples. Navicula ectoris Van de Vijver was also reported here for the first time in continental Antarctica. Mosses in the microbial mats did not have a significant effect on the diatom species composition. Redundancy analysis revealed that the main environmental gradient for diatoms was electric conductivity, despite its relatively narrow range (18-390 mS m^(-1)). Our results suggest that Diadesmis sp. and Psammothidium metakryophilum are halophobes, whereas Amphora sp. is a halophile.