Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica
It is generally accepted that Antarctic terrestrial diversity decreases as latitude increases, but latitudinal patterns of several organisms are not always as clear as expected. The Victoria Land region is rich in lakes and ponds and spans 8 degrees of latitude that encompasses gradients in factors...
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ftunivsiena:oai:usiena-air.unisi.it:11365/1005656 2024-02-11T09:57:08+01:00 Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi BARGAGLI, ROBERTO Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi Bargagli, Roberto 2016 ELETTRONICO http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1005656 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.20703 http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/20703/46629 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000376254900001 volume:35 journal:POLAR RESEARCH http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1005656 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.20703 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011263178 http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/20703/46629 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Biodiversity Biogeography Continental Antarctica Photosynthetic pigment Proxy Sediment Oceanography Environmental Chemistry 2300 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2016 ftunivsiena https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.20703 2024-01-23T23:17:42Z It is generally accepted that Antarctic terrestrial diversity decreases as latitude increases, but latitudinal patterns of several organisms are not always as clear as expected. The Victoria Land region is rich in lakes and ponds and spans 8 degrees of latitude that encompasses gradients in factors such as solar radiation, temperature, ice cover and day length. An understanding of the links between latitudinally driven environmental and biodiversity changes is essential to the understanding of the ecology and evolution of Antarctic biota and the formulation of hypotheses about likely future changes in biodiversity. As several studies have demonstrated that photosynthetic pigments are an excellent, although underused, tool for the study of lacustrine algal communities, the aim of the present study was to investigate variations in algal biomass and biodiversity across the latitudinal gradient of Victoria Land using sedimentary pigments. We test the hypothesis that the biodiversity of freshwater environments decreases as latitude increases. On the basis of our results, we propose using the number of sedimentary pigments as a proxy for algal diversity and the sum of chlorophyll a and bacteriochlorophyll a with their degradation derivatives as an index of biomass. Overall, our data show that biomass and diversity decrease as latitude increases but local environmental conditions, in particular, natural levels of eutrophy, can affect both productivity and diversity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Victoria Land Università degli Studi di Siena: USiena air Antarctic East Antarctica Victoria Land Polar Research 35 1 20703 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Università degli Studi di Siena: USiena air |
op_collection_id |
ftunivsiena |
language |
English |
topic |
Biodiversity Biogeography Continental Antarctica Photosynthetic pigment Proxy Sediment Oceanography Environmental Chemistry 2300 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) |
spellingShingle |
Biodiversity Biogeography Continental Antarctica Photosynthetic pigment Proxy Sediment Oceanography Environmental Chemistry 2300 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi BARGAGLI, ROBERTO Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Biodiversity Biogeography Continental Antarctica Photosynthetic pigment Proxy Sediment Oceanography Environmental Chemistry 2300 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) |
description |
It is generally accepted that Antarctic terrestrial diversity decreases as latitude increases, but latitudinal patterns of several organisms are not always as clear as expected. The Victoria Land region is rich in lakes and ponds and spans 8 degrees of latitude that encompasses gradients in factors such as solar radiation, temperature, ice cover and day length. An understanding of the links between latitudinally driven environmental and biodiversity changes is essential to the understanding of the ecology and evolution of Antarctic biota and the formulation of hypotheses about likely future changes in biodiversity. As several studies have demonstrated that photosynthetic pigments are an excellent, although underused, tool for the study of lacustrine algal communities, the aim of the present study was to investigate variations in algal biomass and biodiversity across the latitudinal gradient of Victoria Land using sedimentary pigments. We test the hypothesis that the biodiversity of freshwater environments decreases as latitude increases. On the basis of our results, we propose using the number of sedimentary pigments as a proxy for algal diversity and the sum of chlorophyll a and bacteriochlorophyll a with their degradation derivatives as an index of biomass. Overall, our data show that biomass and diversity decrease as latitude increases but local environmental conditions, in particular, natural levels of eutrophy, can affect both productivity and diversity. |
author2 |
Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi Bargagli, Roberto |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi BARGAGLI, ROBERTO |
author_facet |
Borghini, Francesca Colacevich, Andrea Caruso, Tancredi BARGAGLI, ROBERTO |
author_sort |
Borghini, Francesca |
title |
Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
title_short |
Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
title_full |
Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land lakes, East Antarctica |
title_sort |
algal biomass and pigments along a latitudinal gradient in victoria land lakes, east antarctica |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1005656 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.20703 http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/20703/46629 |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Victoria Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Victoria Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Victoria Land |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000376254900001 volume:35 journal:POLAR RESEARCH http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1005656 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.20703 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85011263178 http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/20703/46629 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.20703 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
35 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
20703 |
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1790608886247456768 |