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Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps
Mountain environments are marked by an altitudinal zonation of habitat types. They are home to a multitude of terrestrial green algae, who have to cope with abiotic conditions specific to high elevation, e.g., high UV irradiance, alternating desiccation, rain and snow precipitations, extreme diurnal...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8215661/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34163510 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.679428 |
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author | Stewart, Adeline Rioux, Delphine Boyer, Fréderic Gielly, Ludovic Pompanon, François Saillard, Amélie Thuiller, Wilfried Valay, Jean-Gabriel Maréchal, Eric Coissac, Eric |
author_facet | Stewart, Adeline Rioux, Delphine Boyer, Fréderic Gielly, Ludovic Pompanon, François Saillard, Amélie Thuiller, Wilfried Valay, Jean-Gabriel Maréchal, Eric Coissac, Eric |
author_sort | Stewart, Adeline |
collection | PubMed |
description | Mountain environments are marked by an altitudinal zonation of habitat types. They are home to a multitude of terrestrial green algae, who have to cope with abiotic conditions specific to high elevation, e.g., high UV irradiance, alternating desiccation, rain and snow precipitations, extreme diurnal variations in temperature and chronic scarceness of nutrients. Even though photosynthetic green algae are primary producers colonizing open areas and potential markers of climate change, their overall biodiversity in the Alps has been poorly studied so far, in particular in soil, where algae have been shown to be key components of microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether the spatial distribution of green algae followed the altitudinal zonation of the Alps, based on the assumption that algae settle in their preferred habitats under the pressure of parameters correlated with elevation. We did so by focusing on selected representative elevational gradients at distant locations in the French Alps, where soil samples were collected at different depths. Soil was considered as either a potential natural habitat or temporary reservoir of algae. We showed that algal DNA represented a relatively low proportion of the overall eukaryotic diversity as measured by a universal Eukaryote marker. We designed two novel green algae metabarcoding markers to amplify the Chlorophyta phylum and its Chlorophyceae class, respectively. Using our newly developed markers, we showed that elevation was a strong correlate of species and genus level distribution. Altitudinal zonation was thus determined for about fifty species, with proposed accessions in reference databases. In particular, Planophila laetevirens and Bracteococcus ruber related species as well as the snow alga Sanguina genus were only found in soil starting at 2,000 m above sea level. Analysis of environmental and bioclimatic factors highlighted the importance of pH and nitrogen/carbon ratios in the vertical distribution in soil. Capacity to grow heterotrophically may determine the Trebouxiophyceae over Chlorophyceae ratio. The intensity of freezing events (freezing degree days), proved also determinant in Chlorophyceae distribution. Guidelines are discussed for future, more robust and precise analyses of environmental algal DNA in mountain ecosystems and address green algae species distribution and dynamics in response to environmental changes. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8215661 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-82156612021-06-22 Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps Stewart, Adeline Rioux, Delphine Boyer, Fréderic Gielly, Ludovic Pompanon, François Saillard, Amélie Thuiller, Wilfried Valay, Jean-Gabriel Maréchal, Eric Coissac, Eric Front Plant Sci Plant Science Mountain environments are marked by an altitudinal zonation of habitat types. They are home to a multitude of terrestrial green algae, who have to cope with abiotic conditions specific to high elevation, e.g., high UV irradiance, alternating desiccation, rain and snow precipitations, extreme diurnal variations in temperature and chronic scarceness of nutrients. Even though photosynthetic green algae are primary producers colonizing open areas and potential markers of climate change, their overall biodiversity in the Alps has been poorly studied so far, in particular in soil, where algae have been shown to be key components of microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether the spatial distribution of green algae followed the altitudinal zonation of the Alps, based on the assumption that algae settle in their preferred habitats under the pressure of parameters correlated with elevation. We did so by focusing on selected representative elevational gradients at distant locations in the French Alps, where soil samples were collected at different depths. Soil was considered as either a potential natural habitat or temporary reservoir of algae. We showed that algal DNA represented a relatively low proportion of the overall eukaryotic diversity as measured by a universal Eukaryote marker. We designed two novel green algae metabarcoding markers to amplify the Chlorophyta phylum and its Chlorophyceae class, respectively. Using our newly developed markers, we showed that elevation was a strong correlate of species and genus level distribution. Altitudinal zonation was thus determined for about fifty species, with proposed accessions in reference databases. In particular, Planophila laetevirens and Bracteococcus ruber related species as well as the snow alga Sanguina genus were only found in soil starting at 2,000 m above sea level. Analysis of environmental and bioclimatic factors highlighted the importance of pH and nitrogen/carbon ratios in the vertical distribution in soil. Capacity to grow heterotrophically may determine the Trebouxiophyceae over Chlorophyceae ratio. The intensity of freezing events (freezing degree days), proved also determinant in Chlorophyceae distribution. Guidelines are discussed for future, more robust and precise analyses of environmental algal DNA in mountain ecosystems and address green algae species distribution and dynamics in response to environmental changes. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8215661/ /pubmed/34163510 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.679428 Text en Copyright © 2021 Stewart, Rioux, Boyer, Gielly, Pompanon, Saillard, Thuiller, Valay, Maréchal and Coissac. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Plant Science Stewart, Adeline Rioux, Delphine Boyer, Fréderic Gielly, Ludovic Pompanon, François Saillard, Amélie Thuiller, Wilfried Valay, Jean-Gabriel Maréchal, Eric Coissac, Eric Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title | Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title_full | Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title_fullStr | Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title_full_unstemmed | Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title_short | Altitudinal Zonation of Green Algae Biodiversity in the French Alps |
title_sort | altitudinal zonation of green algae biodiversity in the french alps |
topic | Plant Science |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8215661/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34163510 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.679428 |
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