02734nas a2200229 4500008004100000245012900041210006900170260001600239300001100255490000600266520197000272100002402242700002202266700001902288700001602307700002202323700002002345700001702365700002102382700002402403856007702427 2012 eng d00aAt Limits of Life: Multidisciplinary Insights Reveal Environmental Constraints on Biotic Diversity in Continental Antarctica0 aAt Limits of Life Multidisciplinary Insights Reveal Environmenta cJul-09-2013 ae445780 v73 a

Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80°S). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in terms of trophic level diversity, were related to the weakly developed younger drifts (Hatherton and Britannia) with higher soil C/N ratio and lower total soluble salts content (thus lower conductivity). Our results indicate that an increase of ion concentration from younger to older drift regions drives a succession of complex to more simple communities, in terms of number of trophic levels and diversity within each group of organisms analysed. This study revealed that integrating diversity across multi-trophic levels of biotic communities with abiotic spatial heterogeneity and geological history is fundamental to understand environmental constraints influencing biological distribution in Antarctic soil ecosystems.

 
1 aMagalhaes, Catarina1 aStevens, Mark, I.1 aCary, Craig, S1 aBall, Becky1 aStorey, Bryan, C.1 aWall, Diana, H.1 aTürk, Roman1 aRuprecht, Ulrike1 ade Bello, Francesco uhttp://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044578