Comprehensive comparisons of three pennate diatoms, Diatoma tenuae, Fragilaria vaucheriae, and Navicula pelliculosa, isolated from summer Arctic reservoirs (Svalbard 79°N), by fine-scale morphology and nuclear 18S ribosomal DNA

• Published in: Polar biology Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 147 - 159
• Main Authors: Ki, Jang-Seu, Cho, Soo-Yeon, Katano, Toshiya, Jung, Seung Won, Lee, Juyun, Park, Bum Soo, Kang, Sung-Ho, Han, Myung-Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.02.2009; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Aquatic ecosystems; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Comparative studies; Ecology; Freshwater ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Life Sciences; Limnology; Microbiology; Morphology; Oceanography; Original Paper; Particular ecosystems; Plankton; Plant Sciences; Reservoirs; Synecology; Zoology; Svalbard; Arctic Region; Svalbard; Diatom; Phylogeny; Arctic; Freshwater; Morphology; Sclerochronology; Freshwater· Diatoma; Algae; Interspecific comparison; Ribosomal DNA; Fresh water; Navicula; Reservoir; 18S-RNA; Fragilaria; Heterokontophyta; Bacillariophyta; Polar region
• ISSN: 0722-4060; 1432-2056
• DOI: 10.1007/s00300-008-0514-0

Here we report morphological and molecular characteristics of dominant freshwater diatoms in summer Arctic reservoirs of Svalbard (Norway), using four culture isolates, when we collected the samples in the field on 15 August 2005. Analyses of morphology and BLAST searches with 18S rDNA sequences identified them to Diatoma tenue (HYNP006, HYNP013), Navicula pelliculosa (HYNP021), and Fragilaria vaucheriae (HYNP022), respectively. Comparative studies of morphology revealed that the body shapes of the three polar diatoms were nearly identical to the known morphology of each species; however, they were considerably shorter in body length than previously described identical species from other locations. The 18S rDNA sequences of the diatoms were nearly identical to the same species from temperate and other regions. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the polar diatoms each formed a clade with their identical species and genera according to their taxonomic positions. This suggests that the polar diatoms may possess little or no genetic or morphological variation compared to more temperate strains.