Hidden levels of phylodiversity in Antarctic green algae: further evidence for the existence of glacial refugia.

ABSTRACT: Recent data revealed that metazoans such as mites and springtails have persisted in Antarctica throughout several glacial-interglacial cycles, which contradicts the existing paradigm that terrestrial life was wiped out by successive glacial events and that the current inhabitants are recent colonizers. We used molecular phylogenetic techniques to study Antarctic microchlorophyte strains isolated from lacustrine habitats from maritime and continental Antarctica. The 14 distinct chlorophycean and trebouxiophycean lineages observed point to a wide phylogenetic diversity of apparently endemic Antarctic lineages at different taxonomic levels. This supports the hypothesis that long-term survival took place in glacial refugia, resulting in a specific Antarctic flora. The majority of the lineages

SUBMITTER: De Wever A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817313 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature