Open AccessCommunity structure and physiological characterization of microbial mats in Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica)
Author(s) -
FernándezValiente Eduardo,
Camacho Antonio,
Rochera Carlos,
Rico Eugenio,
Vincent Warwick F.,
Quesada Antonio
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2006.00221.x
Subject(s) - shetland , biology , microbial mat , cyanobacteria , ecology , peninsula , botany , oceanography , geology , paleontology , bacteria
The community structure and physiological characteristics of three microbial mat communities in Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) were compared. One of the mats was located at the edge of a stream and was dominated by diatoms (with a thin basal layer of oscillatorian cyanobacteria), whereas the other two mats, located over moist soil and the bottom of a pond, respectively, were dominated by cyanobacteria throughout their vertical profiles. The predominant xanthophyll was fucoxanthin in the stream mat and myxoxanthophyll in the cyanobacteria‐dominated mats. The sheath pigment scytonemin was absent in the stream mat but present in the soil and pond mats. The stream mat showed significantly lower δ 13 C and higher δ 15 N values than the other two mats. Consistent with the δ 15 N values, N 2 fixation was negligible in the stream mat. The soil mat was the physiologically most active community. It showed rates of photosynthesis three times higher than in the other mats, and had the highest rates of ammonium uptake, nitrate uptake and N 2 fixation. These observations underscore the taxonomic and physiological diversity of microbial mat communities in the maritime Antarctic region.