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

GONZÁLEZ GARRAZA, GABRIELA; BURDMAN, LUCIANA; MATALONI, GABRIELA

HYDROBIOLOGIA

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019

0018-8158

Tierra del Fuego Island hosts the largestarea of peatlands in the Southern Hemisphere, largelyencompassing peat bogs where peat is actively formedand thus acting as carbon sinks. Under a scenario ofincreasing human pressure, the development of scientifictools for the characterization and monitoring ofthese systems is highly relevant. Desmids have beenused as bioindicators in wetlands on account of theirhigh sensitivity to changes in the environment. Herewe identified the main drivers of periphytic andplanktonic desmid communities in two Fuegian peatbogs, hosting two types of aquatic environments: clearand vegetated pools. Although peat bogs differed inoverall species richness and diversity for both communities,some clear trends were detected regardingtheir dependence on environmental conditions. Unexpectedly,the taxonomic composition of the periphyticdesmids did not depend on the substrate. Instead, theirdiversity and species richness changed along aminero-ombrotrophic gradient. As for planktonicdesmids, their abundance and life strategy jointlychanged from few large-sized species to larger numbersof small-sized species along with terrestrializationstage of the pools. We conclude that both desmidcommunities can be used complementarily to monitorchanges over time in the trophic and terrestrializationstatus of peat bog pools.