Micro-Eukaryotic diversity in Hypolithons from Miers Valley, Antarctica

The discovery of extensive and complex hypolithic communities in both cold and hot deserts has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance in terms of regional productivity. However, most hypolithic research has focused on the bacterial elements of the community. This s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology
Main Authors: Gokul, Jarishma K., Valverde, Angel, Tuffin, Marla, Cary, Stephen Craig, Cowan, Donald A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) 2013
Subjects:
Antarctica
Micro-eukaryotes
Hypoliths
Antarctic
Miers
Miers Valley
Antarc*
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10566/1200
Description
Summary:The discovery of extensive and complex hypolithic communities in both cold and hot deserts has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance in terms of regional productivity. However, most hypolithic research has focused on the bacterial elements of the community. This study represents the first investigation of micro-eukaryotic communities in all three hypolith types. Here we show that Antarctic hypoliths support extensive populations of novel uncharacterized bryophyta, fungi and protists and suggest that well known producer-decomposer-predator interactions may create the necessary conditions for hypolithic productivity in Antarctic deserts.

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