Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) of the world’s highest aquatic environments from the Western Himalayas, India

Pardhi, Samadhan; Kokila, Thiruvalan; Thacker, Mital; Alakananda, B.; Karthick, Balasubramanian

doi:10.26881/oahs-2023.2.04

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The diatom species Denticula thermaloides was discovered by Van de Vijver and Cocquyt (2009) from La Calera hot spring of Peru by scraping off algal material from stones. In Ladakh, this species has been recorded as an epiphyte in the stream, pool, and also from the Chumathang Hot Springs (Pardhi et al, 2023). Thus, Denticula thermaloides seems to show variable habitats (from stream and pool to hot springs) as well as microhabitats (from epilithic to epiphytic).…”

Section: Diatomsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The Puga hot spring of Ladakh is an ideal site to understand the signatures of life forms surviving in extreme conditions where life forms have been reported to survive in the vicinity of terrestrial hot springs (Sarkar et al, 2022 and references therein). However, records of diatoms are sparse from these important sites in India, where some taxonomy and diversity related studies of diatoms have only been carried out from some hot springs (Pardhi et al, 2023). We present here diatom data preserved in the sinter sample of Puga hot spring, Ladakh along with the morphological and geochemical characterization of the sinter deposit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Hot spring diatoms are linked to extreme cold conditions: A new perspective for astrobiological implication from the sinter deposit of Puga hot spring, Ladakh, India

Shukla,

Chaddha,

Kumar

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The hot springs are known to host a variety of organisms, such as Cyanobacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes. The growth and survival of these life forms in extreme environments, where spring water temperature and associated minerals play a significant role, provide analogous conditions like Mars and thus attract researchers to find the possible existence of life beyond the Earth. Many studies have therefore been conducted from the hot springs to understand the controlling factors for these organisms' survival, mainly Cyanobacteria, which are believed to be true thermophiles. However, little is known about diatoms, especially from the hot springs of India, as most of the studies have concentrated on the diversity and distribution of Cyanobacteria. Here, we present a study of diatoms using a geothermal vent sinter from the Puga hot spring of Ladakh, India. Our results suggest that the diatoms preserved in the geothermal vent sinter are less abundant with low diversity and, therefore, represented by a few species only. By correlating the ecological preferences of diatom species with the sinter's morphological characteristics and geochemical analyses, we conclude that these diatom species could be manifested through a secondary deposit on the geothermal vent sinter from the adjacent cold waters of the Puga hot spring. We propose that the temperature gradient could be a key parameter for the occurrence and survival of diatoms in the Puga geothermal vent sinter rather than the gushed hot water. Consequently, the mere presence of diatoms around the hot spring vent cannot be directly linked to their survival in extreme, i.e., hot water conditions. Therefore, eukaryotic forms like diatoms from the hot springs should be used with caution to elucidate the existence of life in extreme (hot water) conditions. In contrast, cold conditions around the hot spring may be the primary drivers for diatoms' survival, which can be used to infer astrobiological implications.

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Section: Diatomsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%