Relationships between surface sediment diatom assemblages and water chemistry gradients in saline lakes of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: Roberts, D, McMinn, A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Univ Press 1996
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; Ecology; Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology); Antarctic; Vestfold; Vestfold Hills; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102096000508; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/7070

The relationship between surface sediment diatom assemblages and measured limnological variables in 33 coastal Antarctic lakes was examined by constructing a diatom-water chemistry dataset. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that salinity and silicate each explain significant amounts of variation in the distribution and abundance of the surface sediment diatom taxa. Salinity has the strongest influence, revealing its value for limnological inference models in this coastal Antarctic region.