Browsing by Author "Casanova-Katny, Angelica"

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    Antarctic Lichens under Long-Term Passive Warming: Species-Specific Photochemical Responses to Desiccation and Heat Shock Treatments
    (2022) Marin, Catalina; Bartak, Milos; Palfner, Gotz; Vergara-Barros, Pablo; Fernandoy, Francisco; Hajek, Josef; Casanova-Katny, Angelica
    Climate warming in the Antarctic tundra will affect locally dominant cryptogams. Being adapted to low temperatures and freezing, little is known about the response of the polar lichens' primary photochemistry to warming and desiccation. Since 2008, we have monitored the ecophysiological responses of lichens to the future warming scenario during a long-term warming experiment through open top chambers (OTCs) on Fildes Peninsula. We studied the primary photochemical response (potential Fv/Fm and effective efficiency of photosystem II YPSII) of different lichen taxa and morphotypes under desiccation kinetics and heat shock experiments. As lichens grow slowly, to observe changes during warming we methodologically focused on carbon and nitrogen content as well as on the stable isotope ratios. Endemic Himantormia lugubris showed the strongest effect of long-term warming on primary photochemistry, where PSII activity occurred at a lower %RWC inside the OTCs, in addition to higher Fv/Fm values at 30 degrees C in the heat shock kinetic treatment. In contrast, Usnea aurantiaco-atra did not show any effect of long-term warming but was active at a thallus RWC lower than 10%. Both Cladonia species were most affected by water stress, with Cladonia aff. gracilis showing no significant differences in primary photochemical responses between the warming and the control but a high sensibility to water deficiency, where, at 60% thallus RWC, the photochemical parameters began to decrease. We detected species-specific responses not only to long-term warming, but also to desiccation. On the other hand, the carbon content did not vary significantly among the species or because of the passive warming treatment. Similarly, the nitrogen content showed non-significant variation; however, the C/N ratio was affected, with the strongest C/N decrease in Cladonia borealis. Our results suggest that Antarctic lichens can tolerate warming and high temperature better than desiccation and that climate change may affect these species if it is associated with a decrease in water availability.
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    Cryoresistance of Antarctic endemic lichen Himantormia lugubris: Analysis of photosystem II functionality using a constant-rate cooling approach
    (2023) Hajek, Josef; Casanova-Katny, Angelica; Bartak, Milos; Sekerak Jr, Jiri
    It is well established that lichens from polar regions of the Earth are capable to perform photosynthesis at sub-zero temperatures. Majority of them show a high degree of cryoresistance, however, species-specific differences exist. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate behaviour of primary photochemical processes of photosynthesis in Antarctic endemic species Himantormia lugubris at sub-zero temperature. For the purpose, the method of constant rate (2 degrees C min-1) cooling (from +20 to-40 degrees C) with simultaneous measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters related to photosystem II (PSII) was used. During the cooling, potential yield of photosynthetic processes in PSII (FV/FM), and effective quantum yield of PSII (phi PSII) were measured in 30 s interval. From the FV/FM and phi PSII data sets, S-curves reflecting temperature dependence of the two chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were constructed and analyzed. The S-curves were found tri-phasic in response to sample temperature decline: (1) slight or no decline phase, (2) rapid decline phase, followed by (3) slow change reaching critical temperature at which the primary photosynthetic processes were fully inhibited. Critical temperature was found-30 and-20 degrees C for FV/FM, and phi PSII, respectively. The latter critical temperature was accompanied by an increase in background chlorophyll fluorescence (F0) indicating inhibition of energy transfer from light-harvesting complexes to core of PSII. A newly-designed chlorophyll fluorescence parameter (a differential, i.e. the difference between the maximum value-normalized FV/FM, and phi PSII) was used in order to evaluate the temperature at which the processes related to photosynthetic electron flow through thylakoid membrane carriers (phi PSII) and the energy flow through PSII (FV/FM) differed to a largest extent. This parameters proved to be temperature-dependent and useful in the evaluation of cryoresistance. Based on our study, H. lugubris, its primary photosynthetic processes in particular, might be considered as higly resistant to sub-zero temperature.
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    Diversity and functionality of soil prokaryotic communities in antarctic volcanic soils: insights from penguin-influenced environments
    (2024) Segura, Diego; Jordaan, Karen; Diez, Beatriz; Tamayo-Leiva, Javier; Doetterl, Sebastian; Wasner, Daniel; Cifuentes-Anticevic, Jeronimo; Casanova-Katny, Angelica
    In the nutrient-limited Antarctic terrestrial habitat, penguins transfer a significant amount of nutrients from the marine to the terrestrial ecosystem through their depositions (i.e., guano). This guano influences soil physicochemical properties, leading to the formation of ornithogenic soil rich in nutrients and organic matter. We hypothesize that soil prokaryotic communities will be strongly influenced by the contribution of nitrogenous nutrients from penguin rookeries, maintaining the influence over long distances. The objective was to establish how the soil prokaryotic diversity and community structure change with distance from a penguin colony, which provides large amounts of guano and nitrogenous compounds, and to study the effects of these nutrients on the functional role of these communities. Methods include volcanic soil sampling along a 1200 m transect from the penguin active rookery and the characterization of soil nutrient content and soil prokaryotic communities using 16S rRNA high-throughput amplicon sequencing. In contrast to our hypothesis, the results showed that the impact of guano from the penguin colony was restricted to the first 300 m. Probably because the penguin rookery was sheltered, strong wind and wind direction did not affect the transport of nutrients from the penguin rookery. Areas close to the penguin rookery were dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, while areas situated further away were dominated by Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, and Planctomycetes. Beta diversity analysis among the soil prokaryotic communities revealed a high degree of community heterogeneity, strongly associated with N compound characteristics (NH4, NO3, and %N), C, and pH. Inferences from N metabolism genes suggest a high potential of the microbial community for dissimilatory nitrate reduction genes (DNRA) to ammonium, assimilatory nitrate reduction (ANR), and denitrification. Although it is assumed that the nitrogenous compounds of the penguin colonies reach long distances and affect the prokaryotic community, this effect can vary with wind directions or the morphology of the site, reducing the impact of the guano over long distances, as our results indicate. On the other hand, functional predictions give some clues about the main actors in nitrogen cycling, through processes like dissimilatory nitrate reduction, assimilatory nitrate reduction, and denitrification.