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Age-related environmental gradients influence invertebrate distribution in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica
Citation
Czechowski, P and White, D and Clarke, L and McKay, A and Cooper, A and Stevens, MI, Age-related environmental gradients influence invertebrate distribution in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, Royal Society Open Science, 3, (12) Article 160296. ISSN 2054-5703 (2016) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copryght 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The potential impact of environmental change on terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems can be explored by inspecting biodiversity patterns across large-scale gradients. Unfortunately, morphology-based surveys of Antarctic invertebrates are time-consuming and limited by the cryptic nature of many taxa. We used biodiversity information derived from high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to elucidate the relationship between soil properties and invertebrate biodiversity in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. Across 136 analysed soil samples collected from Mount Menzies, Mawson Escarpment and Lake Terrasovoje, we found invertebrate distribution in the Prince Charles Mountains significantly influenced by soil salinity and/or sulfur content. Phyla Tardigrada and Arachnida occurred predominantly in low-salinity substrates with abundant nutrients, whereas Bdelloidea (Rotifera) and Chromadorea (Nematoda) were more common in highly saline substrates. A significant correlation between invertebrate occurrence, soil salinity and time since deglaciation indicates that terrain age indirectly influences Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity, with more recently deglaciated areas supporting greater diversity. Our study demonstrates the value of HTS metabarcoding to investigate environmental constraints on inconspicuous soil biodiversity across large spatial scales.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Antarctica, invertebrates, environmental DNA, gradient, salinity, high-throughput sequencing |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Microbiology |
| Research Field: | Microbial Ecology |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
| Objective Field: | Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
| UTAS Author: | Clarke, L (Dr Laurence Clarke) |
| ID Code: | 114580 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 1 |
| Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
| Deposited On: | 2017-02-20 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-06 |
| Downloads: | 75 View Download Statistics |
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