Distribution and abiotic influences on hypolithic microbial communities in an Antarctic Dry Valley

The Miers Valley within the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica supports abundant quartz and marble substrates for hypolithons-microbial colonists on the underside of these translucent rocks. Three physically distinct hypolithic community types have been identified: cyanobacteria dominated (Type I), f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Cowan, DA, Stevens, MI, Tuffin, IM, Pointing, SB, Craig Cary, S, Stomeo, F
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Verlag. The Journal's web site is located at http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/00300/index.htm 2011
Subjects:
Miers valley
Microniches
Antarctica
Cryptic microbial communities
Hypolithons
Antarctic
McMurdo Dry Valleys
Miers
Miers Valley
Antarc*
Polar Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0872-2
http://library.hku.hk:4551/resserv?sid=springerlink&genre=article&atitle=Distribution and abiotic influences on hypolithic microbial communities in an Antarctic Dry Valley&title=Polar Biology&issn=07224060&date=2011-02-01&volume=34&issue=2& spage=307&authors=Don A. Cowan, Stephen B. Pointing, Mark I. Stevens, et al.
http://hdl.handle.net/10722/145036
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Summary:The Miers Valley within the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica supports abundant quartz and marble substrates for hypolithons-microbial colonists on the underside of these translucent rocks. Three physically distinct hypolithic community types have been identified: cyanobacteria dominated (Type I), fungus dominated (Type II) or moss dominated (Type III). The distribution of the three types was mapped across much of the ~75 km 2 area of the upper Miers Valley and correlated this with the measurements of selected micro-environmental variables. Type I hypolithons were most common and occurred at all altitudes up to 824 m, whilst Type II and Type III hypolithons were less abundant and restricted to lower altitudes on the valley floor (<415 m and <257 m, respectively). Whilst all colonized quartz effectively filtered incident UVB irradiance, transmittance levels for UVA and PAR varied markedly and were significant in determining hypolith type. Notably, the Type I hypolithons occurred under rocks with a significantly lower transmittance of photosynthetically active radiation than Type II and III hypolithons. Altitude and aspect were also significant factors determining hypolith type, and a role for altitude-related abiotic variables in determining the distribution of Type I, II and III hypolithons is proposed. © 2010 The Author(s). published_or_final_version Springer Open Choice, 21 Feb 2012

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