Diatom of the Month June 2019 - Subarctic diatom metacommunity
Subarctic streams hold almost pristine type of communities, which makes them highly valuable sentinel ecosystems to predict global change impacts . Marja Lindholm* shares her research about diatoms, functional responses and spatial factors in Subarctic catchments If you are travelling in the northernmost parts of Europe, you will see pristine-looking small streams and rivers flowing through the subarctic landscape (Fig. 1). Figure 1 . Streams in subarctic landscape (Picture: M. Grönroos , 2012). If you look at those streams more closely, you will see clean-looking or moss-covered stones through clear water in the bottom of riffle sites (Fig. 2). Unless you were well informed already about this, you probably would never think that the surfaces of those spotless stones and moss host thriving communities of microscopic organisms, such as algae and bacteria. Figure 2 . Clear looking stones at the bottom of the subarctic strea...