A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude

Zawierucha, Krzysztof; Marshall, Craig J.; Wharton, David A.; Janko, Karel

doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3494

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Among nematodes, our results (i.e. perfect alignment between our Antarctic 18S sequence from Mount Menzies and an annotated reference sequence) indicate that Scottnema lindsayae could likely occur in high altitude and high latitude environments such as MM, but then would be influenced by the species' general indifference (rather than affinity, compare Zawierucha et al 2019) to alkaline substrates, and must be highly localized (at least at MM) if encountered at high abundance (Smykla et al 2018;Zawierucha et al 2019). Lastly, we confirm the negative association between tardigrade occurrence and alkaline substrates observed in Victoria Land (eg Smykla et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Czechowski

Lange

Knapp

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Antarctic conservation science is important to enhance Antarctic policy and to understand alterations of terrestrial Antarctic biodiversity. Antarctic conservation will have limited long term effect in the absence of large-scale biodiversity data, but if such data were available, it is likely to improve environmental protection regimes. To enable Antarctic biodiversity prediction across continental spatial scales through proxy variables, in the absence of baseline surveys, we link Antarctic substrate-derived environmental DNA (eDNA) sequence data from the remote Antarctic Prince Charles Mountains to a selected range of concomitantly collected measurements of substrate properties. We achieve this using a statistical method commonly used in machine learning. We find neutral substrate pH, low conductivity, and some substrate minerals to be important predictors of presence for basidiomycetes, chlorophytes, ciliophorans, nematodes, or tardigrades. Our bootstrapped regression reveals how variations of the identified substrate parameters influence probabilities of detecting eukaryote phyla across vast and remote areas of Antarctica. We believe that our work may improve future taxon distribution modelling and aid targeting logistically challenging biodiversity surveys.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Czechowski

Lange

Knapp

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…In addition, soil alkalinity and substrate concentrations of sulfur, pyroxene, amphibole, or garnet also appear to constrain chlorophyte and ciliophoran distributions. Among nematodes, our results (ie perfect alignment between our Antarctic 18S sequence from MM and an annotated reference sequence) indicate that S lindsayae could occur in high altitude and high latitude environments such as MM, but in such environments would be influenced by the species' general indifference (rather than affinity; compare with Zawierucha et al 2019) to alkaline substrates, and must be highly localized (at least at MM) if encountered at high abundance (Smykla et al 2018;Zawierucha et al 2019). Finally, we confirm the negative association between tardigrade occurrence and alkaline substrates previously observed in Victoria Land (Smykla et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Among nematodes, our results (ie perfect alignment between our Antarctic 18 S sequence from MM and an annotated reference sequence) indicate that S lindsayae could occur in high altitude and high latitude environments such as MM, but in such environments would be influenced by the species’ general indifference (rather than affinity; compare with Zawierucha et al . 2019) to alkaline substrates, and must be highly localized (at least at MM) if encountered at high abundance (Smykla et al . 2018; Zawierucha et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Czechowski

Lange

Knapp

et al. 2022

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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Antarctic conservation science is crucial for enhancing Antarctic policy and understanding alterations to terrestrial Antarctic biodiversity. Antarctic conservation will have limited long‐term impacts in the absence of large‐scale biodiversity data, but if such data were available, it is likely to improve environmental protection regimes. To enable the prediction of Antarctic biodiversity across continental spatial scales through proxy variables, in the absence of baseline surveys, we linked Antarctic substrate‐derived environmental DNA (eDNA) sequence data from the remote Antarctic Prince Charles Mountains to a selected range of concomitantly collected measurements of substrate properties. We achieved this through application of a statistical method commonly used in machine learning. Our analysis indicated that neutral substrate pH, low conductivity, and certain substrate minerals are important predictors of the presence of basidiomycetes, chlorophytes, ciliophorans, nematodes, and tardigrades. A bootstrapped regression revealed how variations in the identified substrate parameters influence probabilities of detecting eukaryote phyla across vast and remote areas of Antarctica. We believe that our work will improve future taxon distribution modeling and aid in developing more targeted surveys of biodiversity conducted under logistically challenging conditions.

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“…Other studies have found that desert nematode abundance was not enhanced in areas of ephemeral water flows (i.e., rainfall or snowmelt channels, Treonis et al, 1999;Treonis et al, 2019). In contrast, Zawierucha et al (2019) nematodes following wetting of soils in the Negev Desert. More work is needed to understand the interplay among fog, soil moisture, and nematode abundance in arid ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Other studies have found that desert nematode abundance was not enhanced in areas of ephemeral water flows (i.e., rainfall or snowmelt channels, Treonis et al, 1999 ; Treonis et al, 2019 ). In contrast, Zawierucha et al ( 2019 ) found that the Antarctic nematode Scottnema lindsayae increased in abundance with elevation, possibly responding to soil moisture derived from clouds, and Steinberger and Sarig ( 1993 ) documented increased nematodes following wetting of soils in the Negev Desert. More work is needed to understand the interplay among fog, soil moisture, and nematode abundance in arid ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Nematode communities indicate diverse soil functioning across a fog gradient in the Namib Desert gravel plains

Treonis

Marais

Maggs‐Kölling

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Soil nematodes are fundamentally aquatic animals, requiring water to move, feed, and reproduce. Nonetheless, they are ubiquitous in desert soils because they can enter an anhydrobiotic state that allows them to persist when water is biologically unavailable. In the hyper‐arid Namib Desert of Namibia, rain is rare, but fog routinely moves inland from the coast and supports plant and animal life. Very little is understood about how this fog may affect soil organisms. We investigated the role of fog moisture in the ecology of free‐living, soil nematodes across an 87‐km fog gradient in the gravel plains of the Namib Desert. We found that nematodes emerged from anhydrobiosis and became active during a fog event, suggesting that they can utilize fog moisture to survive. Nematode abundance did not differ significantly across the fog gradient and was similar under shrubs and in interplant spaces. Interplant soils harbor biological soil crusts that may sustain nematode communities. As fog declined along the gradient, nematode diversity increased in interplant soils. In areas where fog is rare, sporadic rainfall events can stimulate the germination and growth of desert ephemerals that may have a lasting effect on nematode diversity. In a 30‐day incubation experiment, nematode abundance increased when soils were amended with water and organic matter. However, these responses were not evident in field samples, which show no correlations among nematode abundance, location in the fog gradient, and soil organic matter content. Soil nematodes are found throughout the Namib Desert gravel plains under a variety of conditions. Although shown to be moisture‐ and organic matter‐limited and able to use moisture from the fog for activity, variation in fog frequency and soil organic matter across this unique ecosystem may be biologically irrelevant to soil nematodes in situ.

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A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude

Cited by 9 publications

References 70 publications

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Nematode communities indicate diverse soil functioning across a fog gradient in the Namib Desert gravel plains

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