Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1007/s00792-004-0408-1
Document Shareable Link
Title (Primary) Community structure and photosynthetic activity of epilithon from a highly acidic (pH <= 2) mountain stream in Patagonia, Argentina
Author Baffico, G.D.; Diaz, M.M.; Wenzel, M.T.; Koschorreck, M.; Schimmele, M.; Neu, T.R.; Pedrozo, F.
Source Titel Extremophiles
Year 2004
Department SEEFO; FLOEK
Volume 8
Issue 6
Page From 463
Page To 473
Language englisch
Keywords acidic stream - Gloeochrysis - oxygen fluxes - pH - photosynthetic rate
Abstract

We explored a benthic community living on stones in an acidic (pHle2) stream of active volcanic origin from Patagonia, Argentina, by combining in situ measurements (temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen), photosynthesis of intact biofilms (measured with microsensors by the light–dark shift method), pure-culture experiments on isolated algae, and confocal laser scanning microscopy on the biofilms. The epilithon of the Agrio River was dominated (99% of total biomass) by one species: Gloeochrysis (Chrysophyceae). This species was observed as brown, mucilaginous, 200-mgrm-thick films on stones, growing in clumps in a dense matrix of fungal hyphae, bacteria, and inorganic particles held together by extracellular polymeric substances. Gloeochrysis was isolated and cultivated. The photosynthetic rate measured at saturation irradiance was 120 mgrmol oxygen (mg chlorophyll a)–1h–1 under laboratory conditions, and the saturation rate of photosynthesis by carbon dioxide was 90 mgrmol oxygen (mg chlorophyll a)–1 h–1 for oxygen evolution. Photosynthetic activity of the biofilm was light-dependent and saturated above 200 mgrmol photons m–2 s–1. In the dark, the stone surface became anoxic. Our data suggest that primary production in the Agrio River was not limited by light, carbon, or phosphorus but instead, nitrogen-limited.

Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=3944
Baffico, G.D., Diaz, M.M., Wenzel, M.T., Koschorreck, M., Schimmele, M., Neu, T.R., Pedrozo, F. (2004):
Community structure and photosynthetic activity of epilithon from a highly acidic (pH <= 2) mountain stream in Patagonia, Argentina
Extremophiles 8 (6), 463 - 473 10.1007/s00792-004-0408-1