Species composition and abundance of microalgae in an antarctic runnel, Reeve Hill, Casey Station, Antarctica.
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Date
2006-04
Authors
Mohd Sidik Merican, Faradina Merican
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Abstract
The ephemeral runnel of Reeve Hill, (66° 16.855'S, 110° 31.045'E) Casey
Station, Antarctica forms an impermanent water body which was dominated by
Cyanobacterial mats and diatoms. The filamentous Cyanophyta form cohesive
mats on the bed of the upper runnel while diatoms showed total dominance in
the lower part of the runnel. A total of 21 species ranging from freshwater to
marine were recorded from the upper to the lower runnel area. To date, nine
species of freshwater algae have been identified at the upper and middle runnel
which includes Oscillatoria fracta, Oscil/atoria sp., Navicula muticopsis,
Pinnularia borealis, Nitzschia sp., Prasiola crispa, Chlorococcum sp.,
Synechococcus aeruginosus and Synechococcus maior. The species diversity
was higher in the upper runnel compared to the middle runnel. Species
composition however changes along the length of the runnel. Due to intrusion of
sea water, samples of the lower runnel were dominated mainly by marine
Bacillariophytes. The most abundant species was the Corethron criophilum
which was spotted in high numbers in every sample examined. Other species
detected- includes Fragilaria kerguelensis, Fragi/aria linearis, Eucampia
antarctica, Thalassiosira tumida, Pseudonitzschia lineola, Pseudonitzschia
turgiduloides, Achnanthes brevipes and Odontel/a litigiosa. Diversity analysis
performed using Shannon's Index indicated highest species diversity in the
lower runnel (H=2.485) while the middle runnel showed the lowest value
(H=2.079). Similarity analysis performed using both Jaccard and S0renson
,.
Index indicated that the algal community of the upper runnel was very similar to
the community present in the middle runnel (Jaccard lndex=0.889 and
S0renson lndex=0.941). However, there were no mutual resemblance of the
algal species between the lower runnel and the other two sites. Diversity
gradient has been used as an argument to explain the variation in species
richness and diversity observed in the study. An attempt to discuss the
distribution of algal species in a wider scale was made by looking into the
significant contributions of this very simplified ecosystem towards understanding
the global diversity pattern.
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Keywords
Antarctic runnel, Reeve Hill , Casey Station, Antarctica