Cianobacterias Ácido-Termófilas Del Complejo Termal Copahue, Neuquén, Argentina

Abstract

The objective of this work was to identify the species of acid-thermophilic cyanobacteria which, together with the waters, microalgae and mud, are important thermal resources used for therapeutic purposes in the Copahue Thermal Complex. The work presents descriptions, comments, and illustrations of the 11 identified species belonging to nine genera: Chroococcidiopsis, Chroococcus, Kamptonema, Komvophoron, Leptolyngbya, Mastigocladus, Oscillatoria, Phormidium and Spirulina, collected in ten sampling sites. Five species: Chroococcus membraninus, Chroococcidiopsis thermalis, Spirulina gracilis, Phormidium thermobium, and Komvophoron jovis, are cited for the first time for Argentina. In addition, four species were isolated and maintained in unialgal culture: Chroococcus membraninus, Chroococcidiopsis thermalis, Kamptonema animale and Mastigocladus laminosus. M. laminosus was the most frequently encountered species of the area, since it was found in eight of the ten sites. The Laguna Los Callos was the most diverse site, with the largest number of species, eight in total. All the species of cyanobacteria studied in the present work are used, either through the direct application of the mats or through the use of their active components in water, and mud.

Caracterización limnológica del agua, las algas y los barros utilizados en el Complejo Termal Copahue (Neuquén, Argentina)

“…Some of the species found in Copahue are true inhabitants of highly acidic waters: Cyanidium caldarium, Euglena mutabilis, Chlamydomonas acidophila (Gross 2000), the diatoms: Achnanthidium minutissimum, Eunotia exigua, Nitzschia spp., Pinnularia spp. (DeNicola 2000; Urbieta et al 2015) and cosmopolitan species of thermal springs: Mastigocladus laminosus, Leptolyngbia boryana and Phormidium tergestinum (Flores Melo et al 2019). None of Copahue cyanobacteria have been mentioned in the literature as toxic but the toxin production of cyanobacteria in hot spring bath waters is poorly explored (Mohamed 2008).…”

“…Other authors investigated the great biodiversity of chemolithoautotrophic and heterotrophic organisms: archaea, bacteria and fungi (Chiacchiarini et al 2010;Urbieta et al 2015). Although mat forming cyanobacteria are the dominant photoautotrophic organisms in Copahue thermal environments, there are still very few records about their diversity and ecophysiology (Flores Melo et al 2019). This paper presents information on the characterization of the thermal resources (muds, algae and water) in the CTC, which are used for balneotherapy and mud therapy.…”