Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T02:41:59.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nematode communities of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, maritime Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Uffe N. Nielsen ,
Diana H. Wall ,
Grace Li ,
Manuel Toro ,
Byron J. Adams  and
Ross A. Virginia
Uffe N. Nielsen*
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Diana H. Wall
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Grace Li
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Manuel Toro
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudios Hidrográficos del CEDEX, 28005 Madrid, Spain
Byron J. Adams
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Laboratories, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Ross A. Virginia
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
*
uffe@nrel.colostate.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The nematode communities of Antarctica are considered simple. The few species present are well adapted to the harsh conditions and often endemic to Antarctica. Knowledge of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems is increasing rapidly, but nematode communities remain to be explored in large parts of Antarctica. In soil samples collected at Byers Peninsula (Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 126), Livingston Island we recorded 37 nematode taxa but samples showed great variation in richness and abundance. Nematode richness decreased with increasing soil pH, whereas total abundances, and the abundance of several trophic groups, were greatest at intermediate pH (around 6.5–7). Moreover, the community composition was mainly related to pH and less so to soil moisture. Trophic group, and total nematode, rotifer and tardigrade, abundances were generally positively correlated. Byers Peninsula is thus, by maritime Antarctic standards, a nematode biodiversity hotspot, and the presence of several previously unrecorded genera indicates that nematode species richness in maritime Antarctica is probably underestimated. Our results indicate that abiotic factors influence nematode communities with little evidence for biotic interactions. The unexplained heterogeneity in community composition is probably related to variation in microclimate, vegetation, topography and unmeasured soil properties, but may also be contributed to by biological processes.

Keywords

ASPA no. 126biodiversity hotspotcommunity compositionsoil faunaSouth Shetland Islands
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , 12 July 2011 , pp. 349 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrássy, I. 1998. Nematodes in the sixth continent. Journal of Nematode Morphology and Systematics, 1, 107–186.Google Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Wall, D.H.Adams, B.J. 2008. Decline in a dominant invertebrate species contributes to altered carbon cycling in a low-diversity ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 14, 1734–1744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bate, D.B., Barrett, J.E., Poage, M.A.Virginia, R.A. 2008. Soil phosphorus cycling in an Antarctic polar desert. Geoderma, 144, 21–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, W.Stary, J. 1996. Oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) of the maritime Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Natural History, 30, 1059–1067.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bölter, M., Blume, H.-P., Schneider, D.Beyer, L. 1997. Soil properties and distributions of invertebrates and bacteria from King George Island (Arctowski Station), maritime Antarctic. Polar Biology, 18, 295–304.Google Scholar
Convey, P.Quintana, R.D. 1997. The terrestrial fauna of Cierva Point SSSI, Danco Coast, northern Antarctic Peninsula. European Journal of Soil Biology, 33, 19–29.Google Scholar
Convey, P.Smith, R.I.L. 1997. The terrestrial arthropod fauna and its habitats in northern Marguerite Bay and Alexander Island, maritime Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 9, 12–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P.Smith, R.I.L. 2006. Responses of terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems to climate change. Plant Ecology, 182, 1–10.Google Scholar
Convey, P.Wynn-Williams, D.D. 2002. Antarctic soil nematode response to artificial climate ameliaration. European Journal of Soil Biology, 38, 255–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P., Greenslade, P., Richard, K.J.Block, W. 1996. The terrestrial arthropod fauna of the Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands - Collembola. Polar Biology, 16, 257–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P., Gibson, J.E.A., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Hodgson, D.A., Pugh, P.J.A., Smellie, J.L.Stevens, M.I. 2008. Antarctic terrestrial life - challenging the history of the frozen continent? Biological Reviews, 83, 103–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fell, J.W., Scorzetti, G., Connell, L.Craig, S. 2006. Biodiversity of micro-eukaryotes in Antarctic Dry Valley soils with < 5% soil moisture. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 38, 3107–3119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freckman, D.W., Kaplan, D.T.van Gundy, S.D. 1977. A comparison of techniques for extraction and study of anhydrobiotic nematodes from dry soils. Journal of Nematology, 9, 176–181.Google ScholarPubMed
Gray, N.F.Smith, R.I.L. 1984. The distribution of nematophagous fungi in the maritime Antarctic. Mycopathologia, 85, 81–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallas, T.E.Yeates, G.W. 1972. Tardigrada of soil and litter of a Danish beech forest. Pedobiologia, 12, 287–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogg, I.D., Cary, S.C., Convey, P., Newsham, K.K., O'Donnell, A.G., Adams, B.J., Aislabie, J., Frati, F., Stevens, M.I.Wall, D.H. 2006. Biotic interactions in Antarctic ecosystems: are they a factor? Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 38, 3035–3040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huiskes, A., Convey, P.Bergström, D.M. 2006. Trends in Antarctic terrestrial and limnetic ecosystems. In Bergström, D.M., Convey, P., Huiskes, A.H.L., eds. Trends in Antarctic terrestrial and limnetic ecosystems: Antarctica as a global indicator. Dordrecht: Springer, 1–13.Google Scholar
Maslen, N.R.Convey, P. 2006. Nematode diversity and distribution in the southern maritime Antarctic – clues to history? Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 38, 3141–3151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moorhead, D.L., Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Wall, D.H.Porazinska, D. 2003. Organic matter and soil biota of upland wetlands in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Polar Biology, 26, 567–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulder, C., De Zwart, D., van Wijnen, H.J., Schouten, A.J.Breure, A.M. 2003. Observational and simulated evidence of ecological shifts within the soil nematode community of agroecosystems under conventional and organic farming. Functional Ecology, 17, 516–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Navas, A., López-Martínez, J., Casas, J., Machín, J., Durán, J.J., Serrano, E., Cuchi, J.-A.Mink, S. 2008. Soil characteristics on varying lithological substrates in the South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctica. Geoderma, 144, 123–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poage, M.A., Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A.Wall, D.H. 2008. The influence of soil geochemistry on nematode distribution, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 40, 119–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugh, P.J.A.Convey, P. 2008. Surviving out in the cold: Antarctic endemic invertebrates and their refugia. Journal of Biogeography, 35, 2176–2186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Development Core Team. 2009. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing. Vienna: http://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
Richard, K.J., Convey, P.Block, W. 1994. The terrestrial arthropod fauna of the Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands. Polar Biology, 14, 371–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodriguez, P.Rico, E. 2008. A new freshwater oligochaete species (Clitellata: Enchytraeidae) from Livingston Island, Antarctica. Polar Biology, 31, 1267–1279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, B.L., Wall, D.H., Adams, B.J., Ayres, E., Barrett, J.E.Virginia, R.A. 2009. Long-term experimental warming reduces soil nematode populations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 41, 2052–2060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R.I.L. 1984. Terrestrial plant biology of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic. In Laws, R.M., ed. Antarctic ecology. London: Academic Press, 61–162.Google Scholar
Ter Braak, C.J.F. 1986. Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology, 67, 1167–1179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toro, M., Camacho, A., Rochera, C., Rico, E., Bañón, M., Fernández-Valiente, E., Marco, E., Justel, A., Avendaño, M.C., Ariosa, Y., Vincent, W.F.Quesada, A. 2007. Limnological characteristics of the freshwater ecosystems of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, in maritime Antarctica. Polar Biology, 30, 635–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Usher, M.B.Edwards, M.E. 1986. The selection of conservation areas in Antarctica: an example using the arthropod fauna of Antarctic islands. Environmental Conservation, 13, 115–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall, D.H.Virginia, R.A. 1999. Controls on soil biodiversity: insights from extreme environments. Applied Soil Ecology, 13, 137–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeates, G.W. 1968. An analysis of annual variation of nematode fauna in dune sand at Himatangi beach, New Zealand. Pedobiologia, 8, 173–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeates, G.W., Bongers, T., De Goede, R.G.M., Freckman, D.W.Georgieva, S.S. 1993. Feeding habits of soil nematode families and genera - an outline for soil ecologists. Journal of Nematology, 25, 315–331.Google ScholarPubMed