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Título del libro: Lake Alchichica Limnology: The Uniqueness Of A Tropical Maar Lake
Título del capítulo: Phytoplankton of Alchichica: A Unique Community for an Oligotrophic Lake

Autores UNAM:
GLORIA VILACLARA FATJO; MARIA GUADALUPE OLIVA MARTINEZ; MIROSLAV MACEK; ELIZABETH ORTEGA MAYAGOITIA; ROCIO JETZABEL ALCANTARA HERNANDEZ;
Autores externos:

Idioma:

Año de publicación:
2022
Palabras clave:

Functional sizes; Phytoplankton; Picocyanobacteria


Resumen:

The phytoplankton in Lake Alchichica show a relatively low species richness with divergent roles in the food web depending on their size. Picophytoplankton (APP <2-3 µm) are essential in the lake microbial loop, due to their outstanding abundance. In contrast, the nano- (2-3 to 20 µm) and microphytoplankton (>20 µm) show lower densities than APP but progressively higher biomasses with increasing size. It is striking that the larger species cannot be consumed by zooplankton, even though this type of phytoplankton drives the pelagic biogeochemical cycles. The outcome is a significant loss of nutrients to the bottom, mainly by the microendemic diatom Cyclotella alchichicana and the littoral during the short annual cyanobacterial bloom Nodularia aff. spumigena. With APP, only the smaller and more abundant nanophytoplankton species (Monoraphidium minutum, Oocystis parva, and Cyclotella choctawhatcheeana) enter the main food web. The situation impacts the pelagic realm?s overall functioning, resulting in a chronic condition of resource limitation for metazooplankton growth. In short, the uniqueness of Alchichica?s phytoplankton relates to low species richness, large sizes as drivers of carbon and nutrient sinking, small sizes as the basis for the pelagic food webs, the presence of a microendemism, and some variants in other species that could define them as new taxonomic categories. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.


Entidades citadas de la UNAM: