Biologische Bodenkrustenalgen in den Polarregionen - Biodiversität, genetische Diversität und Ökosystem-Elastizität unter Global Change Szenarien

陆地绿色藻类和蓝藻是极地生物土壤结皮的典型和丰富的组成部分。这些群落形成水稳定的聚集体，在初级生产、固氮、养分循环、保水和土壤稳定方面具有重要的生态作用。虽然北极和南极的绿色藻类和蓝细菌的现有数据一般非常有限，但它们在营养贫乏的环境中作为生态系统开发者的功能重要性被认为很高。因此，跨学科项目的主要目标是，第一次，精确评估他们的1。生物多样性（2）。种下遗传多样性，3.）生理生态性能和4.）从南极半岛和北极斯瓦尔巴特群岛分离的生物土壤结壳中最丰富的类群的转录组学。生物多样性将使用经典的培养方法结合分子分类学方法以及宏基因组学进行研究。最丰富的绿色藻类和蓝藻的种下遗传多样性将使用指纹技术进行研究，和一系列选定的人口特点与他们的生理可塑性。温度和水的可利用性，陆地生物的两个关键的环境因素，目前正在发生变化，在极地地区，由于全球变暖，因此他们的生长和光合作用的响应模式的影响将进行比较研究。这些数据将表明全球变化是否以及如何影响极地土壤结皮中关键生物的种群结构和生态表现，并有助于预测这些先驱群落生态功能的未来意义。这种多阶段的方法以前从未应用于两个极地地区的土壤藻类和蓝藻，因此代表了该提案的关键创新之一。

Terrestrial green algae and cyanobacteria are typical and abundant components of biological soil crusts in the polar regions. These communities form water-stable aggregates that have important ecological roles in primary production, nitrogen fixation, nutrient cycling, water retention and stabilization of soils. Although available data on green algae and cyanobacteria are generally very limited for the Arctic and Antarctica, their functional importance as ecosystem developers in nutrient poor environments is regarded as high. Therefore, the main goal of the interdisciplinary project is, for the first time, a precise evaluation of their 1.) biodiversity as well as of 2.) the infra-specific genetic diversity, 3.) ecophysiological performance and 4.) transcriptomics of the most abundant taxa in biological soil crusts isolated from the Antarctic Peninsula and Arctic Svalbard. Biodiversity will be investigated using a classical culture approach in combination with molecular-taxonomical methods as well as with metagenomics. The infra-specific genetic diversity of the most abundant green algae and cyanobacteria will be studied using fingerprinting techniques, and a range of selected populations characterised in relation to their physiological plasticity. Temperature and water availability, two key environmental factors for terrestrial organisms, are currently changing in polar regions due to global warming, and hence their effect on growth and photosynthesis response patterns will be comparatively investigated. The data will indicate whether and how global change influence population structure and ecological performance of key organisms in polar soil crusts, and help to make predictions on the future significance of the ecological functions of these pioneer communities. Such a multiphasic approach has never been applied before to soil algae and cyanobacteria in both polar regions, and hence represents one of the key innovations of this proposal.