Recently formed Antarctic lakes host less diverse benthic bacterial and diatom communities than their older counterparts.

ABSTRACT: Glacier recession is creating new water bodies in proglacial forelands worldwide, including Antarctica. Yet, it is unknown how microbial communities of recently formed "young" waterbodies (originating decades to a few centuries ago) compare with established "old" counterparts (millennia ago). Here, we compared benthic microbial communities of different lake types on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula, using 16S rDNA metabarcoding and light microscopy to explore bacterial and diatom communities, respectively. We found that the older lakes host significantly more diverse bacterial and diatom communities compared to the young ones. To identify potential mechanisms for these differences, linear models and dbRDA analyses suggested combinations of water temperature, pH, and conductivity to b

SUBMITTER: Kollar J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10446143 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature