Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) associated with lichens from Ulu Peninsula (James Ross Island, NE Antarctic Peninsula)

Abstract

Since 2000, the entire Antarctic diatom flora is being revised using a more fine-grained taxonomy based on a better analysis and interpretation of the morphological and molecular observations. Despite the increased diatom research and efforts, the diversity and ecology of diatoms of lichen inhabiting flora of James Ross Island weren’t studied yet. To reveal the actual diatom diversity, samples were collected during February and March 2018 from lichens on the Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island, a 2,450 km2 large island, situated in the north-western part of the Weddell Sea, close to the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The analysis of 29 lichen samples revealed the presence of 56 diatom taxa belonging to 17 genera. The most abundant species were Luticola muticopsis, Hantzschia amphioxys f. muelleri, Pinnularia borealisvar.scalaris, Luticola aff. pusilla and Achnanthes muelleri. Biogeographically, the lichen-inhabiting diatom flora of the Ulu Peninsula is composed of cosmopolitan, Antarctic and endemic elements. The present study is the first focusing on the diversity of lichen-inhabiting diatom communities on James Ross Island, revealing the presence of a rather species rich diatom flora.

Diatom communities differ among Antarctic moss and lichen vegetation types

“…Upon James Ross Island, Luticola , Diadesmis and Pinnularia featured 11, 6 and 5 species, respectively, with the species complex Pinnularia borealis (Pinseel et al 2019), Hantzschia amphioxys and Nitzschia perminuta Grunow appearing at 24.6%, 10.7% and 8.9% relative abundances across sites, respectively (Kopalová et al 2014). In contrast to the mosses, Chattová (2018) reported 56 diatom species from lichens on James Ross Island, with Luticola , Hantzschia and Pinnularia being the most common genera, and with richness ranging from 7 to 23 species per sample.…”

“…However, despite the wealth of historical sources, biogeographical and ecological studies on the Antarctic Continent have generally examined diatoms and mosses separately (Opalinski 1972), without investigating potential relationships between mosses and their associated diatom communities. Even less is known about diatoms inhabiting lichens, which have been largely unexplored save for the recent work of Chattová (2018) on James Ross Island in the Antarctic Peninsula.…”

Description of five new Luticola D.G.Mann (Bacillariophyta, Diadesmidaceae) species from Indonesia with comments on the morphological boundaries of the genus

“…Many genera of diatoms are recorded in terrestrial and aerophytic environments and Luticola D.G. Mann (in Round et al (1990 : 148)) seems to be one of the most diverse ( Chattová 2018 ; Bishop et al 2021 ; Rybak et al 2021a , 2023 ; Radhakrishnan et al 2022 ; Chattová et al 2022 ). However, representatives of this genus can also be found in other environments such as fresh-, brackish and marine water and even as epizoic on turtles ( Wetzel et al 2010 ; Levkov et al 2013 ; Wu and Bergey 2017 ; Rybak et al 2021b ).…”

Humidophila manipurensis sp. nov. and the first record of Humidophila bigibba (Hustedt) Lowe, Kociolek, Johansen, Van de Vijver, Lange-Bertalot et Kopalová from Northeast India

“…Humidophila as a genus has been reported from every continent on earth (Lowe et al 2014Chattová et al 2017;Kochman-Kedziora et al 2016;Nikolić et al 2019) and, moreover, Humidophila species typically inhabit aerial and sub-aerial habitats. While some species such as H. contenta are widely distributed all over the world, other species, such as H. aerophila and H. crozetikerguelensis, are considered endemic for certain regions (Vijver et al 2002;Lowe et al 2014;Kopalová et al 2015;Kochman-Kedziora et al 2016;Chattová 2018).…”