High diversity and isolated distribution of aquatic heterotrophic protists in salars of the Atacama Desert at different salinities

Alexandra E Lennartz Née Rybarski; Frank Nitsche; Alexandra Schoenle; Claudia Voigt; Michael Staubwasser; Hartmut Arndt

doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2023.125987

High diversity and isolated distribution of aquatic heterotrophic protists in salars of the Atacama Desert at different salinities

Eur J Protistol. 2023 Jun:89:125987. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2023.125987. Epub 2023 Apr 18.

Authors

Alexandra E Lennartz Née Rybarski¹, Frank Nitsche¹, Alexandra Schoenle¹, Claudia Voigt², Michael Staubwasser³, Hartmut Arndt⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Ecology, Institute of Zoology, Biocenter Cologne, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, D-50674 Cologne, Germany.
² Department of Geosciences, Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Straße 49b, D-50674 Cologne, Germany; Department of Biology and Geology, Universidad de Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s.n, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería 04120, Spain.
³ Department of Geosciences, Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Straße 49b, D-50674 Cologne, Germany.
⁴ Department of General Ecology, Institute of Zoology, Biocenter Cologne, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, D-50674 Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: Hartmut.Arndt@uni-koeln.de.

PMID: 37245304
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2023.125987

Abstract

The species richness of eukaryotes in the hypersaline environment is generally thought to be low. However, recent studies showed a high degree of phylogenetic novelty at these extreme conditions with variable chemical parameters. These findings call for a more thorough look into the species richness of hypersaline environments. In this study, various hypersaline lakes (salars, 1-348 PSU) as well as further aquatic ecosystems of northern Chile were investigated regarding diversity of heterotrophic protists by metabarcoding studies of surface water samples. Investigations of genotypes of 18S rRNA genes showed a unique community composition in nearly each salar and even among different microhabitats within one salar. The genotype distribution showed no clear connection to the composition of main ions at the sampling sites, but protist communities from similar salinity ranges (either hypersaline, hyposaline or mesosaline) clustered together regarding their OTU composition. Salars appeared to be fairly isolated systems with only little exchange of protist communities where evolutionary lineages could separately evolve.

Keywords: Evolution; Heterotrophic flagellates; Hypersaline waters; Metabarcoding; Placididea; Water chemistry.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
Ecosystem*
Eukaryota / genetics
Lakes
Phylogeny
Salinity*