Ecosystem function decays by fungal outbreaks in Antarctic microbial mats

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Velázquez, David, López-Bueno, Alberto, Aguirre de Cárcer, Daniel, de los Ríos, Asunción, Alcamí, Antonio, Quesada, Antonio
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2016
• Subjects: Article; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Livingston Island; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789741/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26972923; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22954

Antarctica harbours a remarkably diverse range of freshwater bodies and terrestrial ecosystems, where microbial mats are considered the most important systems in terms of biomass and metabolic capabilities. We describe the presence of lysis plaque-like macroscopic blighted patches within the predominant microbial mats on Livingston Island (Antarctic Peninsula). Those blighting circles are associated with decay in physiological traits as well as nitrogen depletion and changes in the spatial microstructure; these alterations were likely related to disruption of the biogeochemical gradients within the microbial ecosystem caused by an unusually high fungal abundance and consequent physical alterations. This phenomenon has been evidenced at a time of unprecedented rates of local warming in the Antarctic Peninsula area, and decay of these ecosystems is potentially stimulated by warmer temperatures.