Taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of aquatic and limno-terrestrial diatoms (Bacillariophyta) in the Maritime Antartic Region

Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) are one of the most diverse algal groups in the Antarctic Region and play a dominant role in almost all freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this overall occurrence, little is known about the diversity, ecology and biogeography of this group in the Maritime Antarc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kopalová, Kateřina
Other Authors: Nedbalová, Linda, Sabbe, Koen, Jüttner, Ingrid
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Univerzita Karlova, Přírodovědecká fakulta 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/57437
Description
Summary:Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) are one of the most diverse algal groups in the Antarctic Region and play a dominant role in almost all freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this overall occurrence, little is known about the diversity, ecology and biogeography of this group in the Maritime Antarctic Region. The main objective of this thesis is therefore to define the taxonomical, ecological and biogeographical characterisation of aquatic, semi- aquatic and moss-inhabiting diatom communities from two islands in the Maritime Antarctic Region: James Ross Island and Livingston Island, located on opposite sides of the Antarctic Peninsula. In this study, a total of 250 samples from three different habitat types (lakes, streams & seepage areas and mosses) from Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island) and Ulu Peninsula (James Ross Island) have been analysed. Using light and scanning electron microscopy, a rather diverse diatom flora composed of 178 taxa, belonging to 43 genera has been identified. Although even until recently, it was generally accepted that the Antarctic diatom flora was mostly composed of cosmopolitan taxa, several new species could be described as a new for science during this PhD study (a reflection of this work is presented in chapters 2 & 3 and in Appendices). Habitat type and. Rozsivky (Bacillariophyta) představuji jednu z nejrozmanitějších skupin řas v antarktické oblasti, hrající dominantní roli téměř ve všech sladkovodních a suchozemských ekosystémech. Přestože se jedná o tak důležitou skupinu, její diverzitě, ekologii a biogeografii v oblasti maritimní Antarktidy bylo věnováno jen málo pozornosti. Hlavním cílem této práce je taxonomická, ekologická a biogeografická charakteristika sladkovodních, limno-terestrických a mechy osídlujících společenstev rozsivek ze dvou ostrovů v oblasti maritimní Antarktidy: z ostrova Jamese Rosse a ostrova Livingston, které se nacházejí na opačných stranách Antarktického poloostrova. V této práci bylo analyzováno celkem 250 vzorků z různých typů habitatů ...