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Micro-eukaryotic diversity in hypolithons from Miers Valley, Antarctica
Abstract
The discovery of extensive and complex hypolithic communities in both cold and hot deserts has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance in terms of regional productivity. However, most hypolithic research has focused on the bacterial elements of the community. This study represents the first investigation of micro-eukaryotic communities in all three hypolith types. Here we show that Antarctic hypoliths support extensive populations of novel uncharacterized bryophyta, fungi and protists and suggest that well known producer-decomposer-predator interactions may create the necessary conditions for hypolithic productivity in Antarctic deserts.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Gokul, J. K., Valverde, A., Tuffin, M. I., Cary, S. C., & Cowan, D. A. (2013). Micro-eukaryotic diversity in hypolithons from Miers Valley, Antarctica. Biology, 2(1), 331–340. http://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010331
Date
2013-02-22
Publisher
MDPI AG
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License