Unrecognized diversity and distribution of soil algae from Maritime Antarctica (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island).

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Eukaryotic algae in the top few centimeters of fellfield soils of ice-free Maritime Antarctica have many important effects on their habitat, such as being significant drivers of organic matter input into the soils and reducing the impact of wind erosion by soil aggregate formation. To better understand the diversity and distribution of Antarctic terrestrial algae, we performed a pilot study on the surface soils of Meseta, an ice-free plateau mountain crest of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, being hardly influenced by the marine realm and anthropogenic disturbances. It is openly exposed to microbial colonization from outside Antarctica and connected to the much harsher and dryer ice-free zones of the continental Antarctic. A temperate reference site under m

SUBMITTER: Rybalka N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10332270 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature