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Provisional checklist of terrestrial heterotrophic protists from Antarctica

Provisional checklist of terrestrial heterotrophic protists from Antarctica AbstractHeterotrophic soil protists encompass lineages that are both evolutionarily ancient and highly diverse, providing an untapped wealth of scientific insight. Yet the diversity of free-living heterotrophic terrestrial protists is still largely unknown. To contribute to our understanding of this diversity, we present a checklist of heterotrophic protists currently reported from terrestrial Antarctica, for which no comprehensive evaluation currently exists. As a polar continent, Antarctica is especially susceptible to rising temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change. Establishing a baseline for future conservation efforts of Antarctic protists is therefore important. We performed a literature search and found 236 taxa identified to species and an additional 303 taxa identified to higher taxonomic levels in 54 studies spanning over 100 years of research. Isolated by distance, climate and the circumpolar vortex, Antarctica is the most extreme continent on Earth: it is not unreasonable to think that it may host physiologically and evolutionarily unique species of protists, yet currently most species discovered in Antarctica are considered cosmopolitan. Additional sampling of the more extreme intra-continental zones will probably result in the discovery of more novel and unique taxa. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Antarctic Science Cambridge University Press

Provisional checklist of terrestrial heterotrophic protists from Antarctica

Antarctic Science , Volume 31 (6): 17 – Dec 1, 2019
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References (111)

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019 
ISSN
0954-1020
eISSN
1365-2079
DOI
10.1017/S0954102019000361
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractHeterotrophic soil protists encompass lineages that are both evolutionarily ancient and highly diverse, providing an untapped wealth of scientific insight. Yet the diversity of free-living heterotrophic terrestrial protists is still largely unknown. To contribute to our understanding of this diversity, we present a checklist of heterotrophic protists currently reported from terrestrial Antarctica, for which no comprehensive evaluation currently exists. As a polar continent, Antarctica is especially susceptible to rising temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change. Establishing a baseline for future conservation efforts of Antarctic protists is therefore important. We performed a literature search and found 236 taxa identified to species and an additional 303 taxa identified to higher taxonomic levels in 54 studies spanning over 100 years of research. Isolated by distance, climate and the circumpolar vortex, Antarctica is the most extreme continent on Earth: it is not unreasonable to think that it may host physiologically and evolutionarily unique species of protists, yet currently most species discovered in Antarctica are considered cosmopolitan. Additional sampling of the more extreme intra-continental zones will probably result in the discovery of more novel and unique taxa.

Journal

Antarctic Science – Cambridge University Press

Published: Dec 1, 2019

Keywords: Antarctic biodiversity; protist conservation; protist diversity; soil protists

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