Details:

Journal Title:
Limnology and Oceanography Letters
Personal Author:
Rivas, J. A. ; Mohl, J. E. ; Van Pelt, R. S. ; Leung, M.‐Y. ; Wallace, R. L. ; ... More +
Rivas, J. A. ; Mohl, J. E. ; Van Pelt, R. S. ; Leung, M.‐Y. ; Wallace, R. L. ; Gill, T. E. ; Walsh, E. J. Less -
NOAA Program & Office:
NCAS (Center for Atmospheric Science at Howard University)
Description:
While separated by large expanses of dry terrain unsuitable for aquatic biota, aridland waters possess high biodiversity. How aquatic micrometazoans disperse to, and colonize, these isolated ephemeral habitats are not well understood. We used a multi-faceted approach including wind tunnel and rehydration experiments, and next-generation sequencing to assess potential movement of diapausing propagules of aquatic invertebrates by anemochory across regional scales (102–105 km). Wind tunnel experiments using dry playa sediments with added micrometazoan propagules demonstrated that after entrainment by saltation and downwind transport were subsequently recoverable as viable animals when rehydrated. Further, rehydration of fallen natural dust yielded micrometazoans, including rotifers, gastrotrichs, microcrustaceans, and nematodes. Using conserved DNA primers, we identified >3,300 eukaryotic Operational Taxonomic Units (excluding fungi) in the dust including some taxa found in rehydration experiments. Thus, we provide strong evidence that anemochory can disperse micrometazoans among isolated, ephemeral ecosystems in North American deserts and likely elsewhere.
Keywords:
[+]
Deserts
Freshwater

Source:
Limnol Oceanogr Lett. 2018 Aug; 3(4): 320–330.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10072
Pubmed ID:
30534597
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC6284810
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
Grant no. NA11SEC4810003
Place as Subject:
North America
Rights Information:
CC BY
Compliance:
PMC
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:fed632c3d878ec2aee7a38b4b7ee47d37efea316db8da62ded5fec7793366d84
File Type:

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