Page 33 - 75_04

VOL. 75 (4), 883-899, 2009 A FASCINATING EXAMPLE OF MICROALGAL ADAPTATION...

rapoporti). However, Mirande et al. (26) previously recorded S.
obtusus from Tucamán province (N Argentina).

5. CONCLUSION

A high microalgal biomass proliferates in contact with crude oil
patches in Arroyo Minero, Nirihuan de Arriba, Río Negro, Argentina,
an area extremely contaminated by continuous spills of crude oil
at least since 1915. Only four species of phytoplankton are able to
grow (the Chlorophyta Scenedesmus obtusus, other Scenedesmus
species (perhaps a new species), the Chlorophyta Chlamydomonas
dinobryonis and the Cyanobacteria Symploca dubia). They are
cosmopolitan mesophile species and not extremophile ones (as would
be expected). These species (isolated and maintained in clonal
laboratory cultures) are resistant to crude oil of Arroyo Minero as
well as to analytical petroleum special standard.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks are given to Professors Eduardo Rapoport and
Sergio Lambertuci Laboratory of Ecotono, University of Bariloche
(Argentina). Supported by Grants CTM2008-05680-C02-02 (Ministe-
rio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain) and CGL2008-00652/BOS (Mi-
nisterio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain).

7. REFERENCES

1. Woodruff, D. S. (2001) Declines of biomes and biotas and the future of
evolution. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 98: 5471-5476.

2. Myers, N. & Knoll, A. H. (2001) The biotic crisis and the future of evolution.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 98: 5389-5392.

3. Dawes, C. J. (1998) Marine Botany (2nd ed). J. Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York,
USA.

4. Falkowski, P. G. & Raven, J. A. (1997) Aquatic Photoshyntesis. Malden, MA,
USA. Blackwell Science.

5. Fogg, G. E. (2001) Algal adaptation to stress, some general remarks. In: Rai
LC, Gaur JP, eds. Algal Adaptation to Environmental Stresses. Physiological,
Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms. Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp. 1-20.

895