At limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80°S). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in term

SUBMITTER: Magalhaes C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3446939 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature