The genus Eunotia (Bacillariophyta) in the Falkland Islands and species-area relationships in sub-Antarctic islands

Abstract

We document the morphology of 15 species of Eunotia from freshwater habitats in the Falkland Islands using light and electron microscopy, and describe four new species, Eunotia australovalida, Eunotia inconspicua, Eunotia floweriana and Eunotia latecapitata. Diatom assemblages were studied from a range of habitats on East Falkland, West Falkland, Saunders Island and Pebble Island, which differed in water chemistry and hydrological conditions including streams, ponds, lakes, springs and damp terrestrial habitats. Significant site and species groups obtained by cluster analysis are related to environmental conditions. Island species-area relationships for Eunotia from the sub-Antarctic region, and the wider geographic distributions of seven Eunotia species from the Falkland Islands are shown.

Keywords:

• biogeography
• distribution
• diversity
• Eunotia
• Falkland Islands
• freshwater
• morphology
• species-area relationships

Acknowledgements

We thank the Shackleton Scholarship Fund for funding the field work in the Falkland Islands in November 2015 through a grant to IJ. Samples were also collected by Alan Orange in January 2011, and in January and February 2015 during fieldwork for the project ‘Lower Plants Inventory and Conservation in the Falkland Islands’, funded by the United Kingdom Government under DEFRA and the Darwin Initiative, grant-no. DPLUS017. We thank Alan Orange, National Museum Wales, for his help with fieldwork in November 2015, and two anonymous reviewers and Eileen Cox for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Luc Ector http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4573-9445

Additional information

Funding

We thank the Shackleton Scholarship Fund for funding the field work in the Falkland Islands in November 2015 through a grant to IJ. Samples were also collected by Alan Orange in January 2011, and in January and February 2015 during fieldwork for the project ‘Lower Plants Inventory and Conservation in the Falkland Islands’, funded by the United Kingdom Government under DEFRA and the Darwin Initiative, grant-no. DPLUS017.