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Trophic interactions in microbial mats on Byers Peninsula, maritime Antarctica

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria-based microbial mats are common in Antarctic terrestrial freshwater ecosystems such as the extensive wetland seepages that cover Byers Peninsula on Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands), maritime Antarctica, where they play an important role in biomass generation and productivity. Although cyanobacteria, microfauna and fungal communities have been described for such microbial mats, to date, little is known about trophic interactions within the mats, which are likely important to overcome nutrient constraints in oligotrophic polar freshwater ecosystems. We therefore carried out a biomass assessment of the different taxonomic components and their trophic interactions using DNA analysis and stable isotope analysis, as well as physiological activities such as primary and secondary production and nitrogen uptake within the mat food web throughout an austral spring and summer season. Our results suggested, based on a Bayesian mixing model, that carbon flow from cyanobacteria to upper trophic levels was limited to tardigrades and rotifers, whereas fungal and bacterial activity were likely the main connectors between consumers and producers via a heterotrophic loop. This suggests that homeostatic state displayed in freshwater microbial mats from maritime Antarctica provides stability to the microbial mats under the fluctuating environmental conditions commonly found in permanently cold shallow terrestrial aquatic ecosystems in Antarctica.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank members of field teams from LIMNOPOLAR project, and we are also grateful to M. Thaler, M. Redondo-Nieto, Unidad Técnica Marina (UTM) and Las Palmas Navy crew. The Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology financed this work through projects CGL2005-06549-C02-01/ANT and CTM2011-28736 to AQ, and CGL2005-06549-C02-02/ANT to AC, the later co-financed by European FEDER funds. Also, it has been funded by the EU SYNTHESIS project Grant GB-TAF-1842 to DV and CR is a recipient of a VALi+d postdoctoral contract of Generalitat Valenciana APOSTD/2015/088.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    David Velázquez & Antonio Quesada

  2. Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    David Velázquez & Anne D. Jungblut

  3. Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Universitat de Valencia, 46100, Burjassot, Spain

    Carlos Rochera & Antonio Camacho

  4. Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Eugenio Rico

  5. Regional Centre for Water Studies (CREA), University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Carlos Rochera

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  1. David Velázquez
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Correspondence to Antonio Quesada.

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Velázquez, D., Jungblut, A.D., Rochera, C. et al. Trophic interactions in microbial mats on Byers Peninsula, maritime Antarctica. Polar Biol 40, 1115–1126 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-2039-2

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