Stream biofilm responses to flow intermittency

• Autores: Xisca Timoner Amer
• Directores de la Tesis: Vicenç Acuña (dir. tes.), Sergi Sabater i Cortés (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat de Girona ( España ) en 2014
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Jordi Catalan Aguilà (presid.), Anna Maria Romani Cornet (secret.), Catherine Leigh (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Ciencias de la vida
    • Microbiología
  • Ciencias de la tierra y del espacio
    • Hidrología
      • Limnología
      • Aguas superficiales
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • Streams experiencing a recurrent non-flow phase (i.e., flow intermittency) are characteristic of world regions with arid and semi-arid climates, where Mediterranean regions are part of. During non-flow streambed sediments, and consequently, microorganisms inhabiting these sediments are exposed to desiccation. These microorganisms, assembled in biofilms, lead a substantial part of the ecosystem processes. They recycle the carbon materials, intervene in the nutrient cycles and are on the base of the food web, fueling energy to the higher trophic levels. The aim of this tesis is to understand how biofilms respond to flow intermittency in order to unravel the consequences of the increasing spatial and temporal extent of flow intermittency, as a consequence of the global change, on the biogeochemical cycles and on the ecosystem functions in temporary streams. Structural and functional biofilm responses were analyzed at the cellular level (algae and bacteria), as well as at the whole biofilm responses (autotrophic vs heterotrophic processes) in two different field studies