Moss inhabiting diatoms of Galindez Island, Argentine Islands (the maritime Antarctica) exhibit low diversity and pronounced differentiation

Abstract

The moss-inhabiting diatom flora has been surveyed for the first time on the Galindez Island, Argentine Islands, the maritime Antarctica. Altogether, 23 diatom taxa belonging to 9 genera were identified. Diatom taxa distribution exhibited considerable variability across the samples and lower species richness compared to the communities surveyed in other Antarctic regions studied earlier - South Shetland Islands and James Ross Island. A pronounced single-species dominance was revealed by the analysis of moss-inhabiting diatom communities’ structure at the majority of moss substrates. The allocation of certain diatom species to the particular moss substrates was detected alongside their complete absence in some samples. The reasons for such moss-inhabiting diatom communities’ variability should be further investigated in follow-up studies.