Diversity and abundance of free-living nematodes from Carlini station, 25 de Mayo/King George Island, Antarctica: A case study in pristine and disturbed soils

SALAS AUGUSTO; ROSALES MATÍAS; CHAVES ELISEO; ANSALDO MARTIN; FUSARO BRUNO; BALCAZAR DARÍO; SAUKA DIEGO; RUSCONI MATÍAS; ACHINELLY , MARÍA F.; RUBERTO LUCAS

POLAR BIOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2023

0722-4060

The Antarctic continent hosts life forms specially adapted to the extreme climatic challenges. Among theseorganisms are nematodes, key organisms in the cycling of nutrients in soil food webs. These organisms arebioindicators of environmental disturbances, making their study essential for assessing the impact of humanactivity in this unique ecosystem. The Carlini Station and the Antarctic Specially Protected Area 132 on the 25de Mayo/King George Island, Antarctica, has seen limited investigation of free-living soil nematodes. Thisstudy aimed to analyze free-living nematode communities in pristine soils and anthropic-intervened soils in theCarlini Station area. Nematodes were extracted from soil samples, and morphologically identified at the genusand family levels to calculated ecological indices to assess nematode community structure. Ecological indices(abundance, maturity, enrichment and soil food structure) were calculated and their values were comparedbetween anthropic and pristine sites using the ANOSIM, SIMPER and ANOVA statistical tests. Additionally,using molecular analysis a phylogenetic study was conducted. The study identified four nematode genera,including Plectus spp., Calcaridorylaimus spp., Eudorylaimus spp., and Coomansus spp., with Plectus spp.2being the most abundant and widely distributed. Anthropic sites had lower maturity and higher enrichmentvalues, indicative of disturbance, while pristine sites exhibited higher maturity and structure values, suggesting ahealthier soil food web. These results suggest that anthropic intervention disrupts nematode communities, andrepresents a significant contribution to the understanding of free-living nematode communities in Antarctica.