Adaptive divergence in pigment composition of mat-forming phytobenthos in shallow Antarctic lakes: Community buildup for light-protection/utilization balance
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Under low nutrient levels, low temperature, and seasonally limited solar radiation in freshwater lakes in continental Antarctica, phytobenthos dominated by cyanobacteria and green algae form very productive ecosystem of thick mat on the lake beds, where higher photosynthetic activities are found in subsurface mat layer than in the surface layer and high photo-protective substances in mat surface (Tanabe et al. Polar Biology 2010). This suggest interesting competitive and “altruistic” interactions between phytobenthetic microbes for their light usages and light protections. Here we propose a mathematical model for the floral buildup of phytobenthic species differing in their photo-protective and photosynthetic pigments components, and their depth distribution from mat surface, along which light spectra changes by dissipations and absorptions by microbes. |
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