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Desmids (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) community drivers and potential as a monitoring tool in South American peat bogs

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Abstract

Tierra del Fuego Island hosts the largest area of peatlands in the Southern Hemisphere, largely encompassing peat bogs where peat is actively formed and thus acting as carbon sinks. Under a scenario of increasing human pressure, the development of scientific tools for the characterization and monitoring of these systems is highly relevant. Desmids have been used as bioindicators in wetlands on account of their high sensitivity to changes in the environment. Here we identified the main drivers of periphytic and planktonic desmid communities in two Fuegian peat bogs, hosting two types of aquatic environments: clear and vegetated pools. Although peat bogs differed in overall species richness and diversity for both communities, some clear trends were detected regarding their dependence on environmental conditions. Unexpectedly, the taxonomic composition of the periphytic desmids did not depend on the substrate. Instead, their diversity and species richness changed along a minero-ombrotrophic gradient. As for planktonic desmids, their abundance and life strategy jointly changed from few large-sized species to larger numbers of small-sized species along with terrestrialization stage of the pools. We conclude that both desmid communities can be used complementarily to monitor changes over time in the trophic and terrestrialization status of peat bog pools.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Grant PICT 2012- 0529 from ANPCyT and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Field research and samples extraction permit was granted by the Provincia de Tierra del Fuego through Resolution SDSyS 570/12. The authors thank the Dirección Provincial de Recursos Hídricos de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego and Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC- CONICET) by logistical support, and to all members of the research team (V. Casa, S. Camargo, P. Fermani, D. García, R. Lombardo, M. V. Quiroga and B. Van de Vijver), for partaking in the field work; and also to the anonymous reviewers and editors for valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC), CONICET, Bernardo Houssay 200, CP 9410, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

    Gabriela González Garraza

  2. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (ICPA), Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Fuegia Basket 251, CP 9410, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

    Gabriela González Garraza

  3. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental, Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), CONICET, CP 1656, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Luciana Burdman & Gabriela Mataloni

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González Garraza, G., Burdman, L. & Mataloni, G. Desmids (Zygnematophyceae, Streptophyta) community drivers and potential as a monitoring tool in South American peat bogs. Hydrobiologia 833, 125–141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-019-3895-x

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