Polar Biology.

MICROBIAL MATS IN THE ANTARCTIC NEARSHORE ENVIRONMENT

S.M. Powell1,2*, A.S. Palmer1,3, G. Johnstone1, I. Snape1,J.S. Stark1, M.J. Riddle1

1Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, TAS 7050 Australia;

2present address: Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 54, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia

3ACROSS, School of Chemistry, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 75, Hobart 7001, Tasmania Australia.

*corresponding author:

Supplementary Table 1: Mean abundance of macrofauna (SE) collected from inside and outside patches at four sites in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica.

Species / Family / McGrady Cove / Brown Bay / Tide Gauge / Stevenson Cove
in / out / in / out / in / out / in / out
Crustacea - Amphipoda
Paramoera walkeri / Eusiridae / 0.25
(0.25)
Orchomenella franklini / Lysianassidae / 61.5
(14.5) / 2.25
(0.6) / 50.25
(6.4) / 0.5
(0.3) / 37.75
(7.3) / 50.5
(12.2)
Orchomenella pinguides / Lysianassidae / 44.75
(10.3) / 1.75
(1.0) / 4.25
(2.8) / 0.25
(0.25) / 0.5
(0.3) / 27.75
(4.7)
Heterophoxus videns / Phoxocephalidae / 0.25
(0.25) / 3.5
(2.0) / 8.5
(1.6) / 0.25
(0.25) / 12.75
(1.1)
Methalimedon nordenskjoeldi / Exedicerotidae / 10.0
(3.0) / 2.5
(0.6) / 1.5
(0.5)
Paroediceroides sinuata / Oedicerotidae / 0.5
(0.3) / 5.75
(1.4)
Paraperioculodessp. / Oedicerotidae / 0.25
(0.25)
Crustacea - Tanaidacea
Nototanais sp. / Nototanaidae / 1.75
(1.75) / 66
(29.7) / 4.25
(0.9) / 15.5
(4.2) / 4.5
(2.3) / 1.75
(0.9)
Nototanais dimorphus / Nototanaidae / 0.5
(0.3) / 3.75
(1.5) / 1.5
(0.9) / 0.25
(0.25)
Nototanais antarcticus / Nototanaidae / 0.5
(0.5)
Tanaid IV / Nototanaidae / 2.25
(1.1)
Crustacea - Isopoda
Austrosignum cf. grande / Paramunnidae / 7.75
(3.2) / 2.25
(1.1) / 1.5
(0.9)
Cymodocella tubicauda / Sphaeromatidae / 0.25
(0.25)
Crustacea - Cumacea
Eudorella cf. slendida / Leuconidae / 19.0
(10.5)
Crustacea - Ostracoda
Scleroconchasp. / Philomedidae / 0.75
(0.75) / 11.25
(3.1) / 0.75
(0.5) / 0.75
(0.5) / 0.25
(0.25) / 10.5
(3.2)
Doloria sp. / Cupriinidae / 0.25
(0.25) / 7.25
(2.3) / 0.25
(0.25) / 2.5
(0.9) / 10
(1.3)
Echinodermata
Abatus / Schizasteridae / 0.5
(0.3) / 0.75
(0.5)
Polychaeta
Capitella sp. / 0.75
(0.25)
Orbiniid / 0.5
(0.3) / 9.0
(2.7) / 0.25
0.25 / 21.75
(5.3)

Supplementary Fig. 1. Sediment pH profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches. Overlying water pH values are also shown at a depth of -0.5cm.

Supplementary Fig. 2. Sediment water content (%) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig. 3. Sediment total organic matter (%) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig.4: Sediment lead (Pb, mg/kg dw) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig.5: Sediment cadmium (Cd, mg/kg dw) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig.6: Sediment zinc (Zn, mg/kg dw) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig.7: Sediment copper (Cu, mg/kg dw) profiles for McGrady Cove, Brown Bay, Tide gauge site and Stevenson Cove inside and outside the microbial patches. The solid line represents the core from inside the patches, dashed line the core from outside the patches.

Supplementary Fig.8MDS showing similarity in element profiles at the four sites inside (dark triangles) and outside (open circles) of the patches.

Supplementary Fig.9CAPordination of macrofaunal community patterns in relation to the hypothesis of differences between communities inside and outside of patches and among sites (trace statistic = 4.40, p = 0.001).

Supplementary Fig.10Percentage composition of clone libraries from this (first four columns) and other studies (see Table 1 for description of each site).

Supplementary Fig.11: Phylogenetic tree of clones belonging to the bacteroidetesphylum. GenBank accession numbers are in square brackets. Sequences named with a number only are from the current study as follows: 100-199 McGrady, 300 – 399 Brown bay patch, 400-499 Tide gauge site, 600-699 Stevenson cove. Numbers of identical clones are in curly brackets. Bar indicates 0.1 nucleotide substitutions per site.

Supplementary Fig. 12 Phylogenetic tree of clones belonging to the gammaproteobacteria. GenBank accession numbers are in square brackets. Sequences named with a number only are from the current study as follows: 100-199 McGrady Cove, 300 – 399 Brown bay patch, 400-499 Tide gauge site, 600-699 Stevenson cove. Bar indicates 0.1 nucleotide substitutions per site.

Supplementary Fig.13Phylogenetic tree of clones belonging to the epsilonproteobacteria. GenBank accession numbers are in square brackets. Sequences named with a number only are from the current study as follows: 100-199 McGrady, 300 – 399 Brown bay patch, 400-499 Tide gauge site, 600-699 Stevenson cove. Numbers of identical clones are in curly brackets. Bar indicates 0.1 nucleotide substitutions per site.