Diatoms from small ponds and terrestrial habitats in Deserta Grande Island (Madeira Archipelago)

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Abstract

Freshwater diversity from Desertas islands (Madeira archipelago, Portugal) is poorly known, although the islands are protected and became a Natural Reserve in 1995. To fulfil this gap, several freshwater and terrestrial habitats were sampled during two field expeditions in 2013 and 2014 to Deserta Grande island. Our aim was to perform a biodiversity assessment of the freshwater biota present in Desertas islands. Here we present the freshwater and terrestrial diatom diversity in Deserta Grande island, including some notes on their ecology and distribution. This study contributes to improve the knowledge of Madeira archipelago freshwater diversity, particular in the Desertas subarchipelago. To our knowledge, we present the first diatom data for the Desertas sub archipelago. This work resulted in a list of 61 diatom taxa for Deserta Grande, from which 57 identified to species level. From the 61 new records for Desertas sub archipelago, 30 of them were also new records for Madeira archipelago. The majority of the species are strictly associated with freshwater, but several others are typically found in brackish environments revealing the influence of sea spray in inland surface water bodies of Deserta Grande, especially at lower altitudes.

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Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities.

N. Myers, R. A. Mittermeier, C Mittermeier … (2000)

Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify 'biodiversity hotspots' where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat. As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are confined to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a 'silver bullet' strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the world's species at risk.

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Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map.

Jennifer Martiny, Brendan J. M. Bohannan, James H Brown … (2006)

We review the biogeography of microorganisms in light of the biogeography of macroorganisms. A large body of research supports the idea that free-living microbial taxa exhibit biogeographic patterns. Current evidence confirms that, as proposed by the Baas-Becking hypothesis, 'the environment selects' and is, in part, responsible for spatial variation in microbial diversity. However, recent studies also dispute the idea that 'everything is everywhere'. We also consider how the processes that generate and maintain biogeographic patterns in macroorganisms could operate in the microbial world.