vol. 41 no. 4, pp. 289–314, 2020 DOI: 10.24425/ppr.2020.134793 Limno-terrestrial diatom flora in two stream valleys near Arctowski Station, King George Island, Antarctica Teresa NOGA1, Natalia KOCHMAN-KĘDZIORA2,3*, Maria OLECH4,5 and Bart VAN DE VIJVER6,7 1University of Rzeszow, Faculty of Biology and Agriculture, Department of Soil Studies, Environmental, Chemistry and Hydrology, Zelwerowicza 8B, 35-601 Rzeszów, Poland 2University of Rzeszow, Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Zelwerowicza 4, 35–601 Rzeszów, Poland 3University of Rzeszow, Podkarpackie Innovative Research Center of Environment, Zelwerowicza 8B, 35–601 Rzeszów, Poland 4Jagiellonian University, Department of Polar Research and Documentation, Institute of Botany, Kopernika 27, 31-501 Kraków, Poland 5Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warszawa, Poland 6Meise Botanic Garden, Research Department, Nieuwelaan 38, B–1860 Meise, Belgium 7University of Antwerp, Department of Biology, ECOBE, Universiteitsplein 1, B–2610 Wilrijk, Antwerpen, Belgium *corresponding author
[email protected] Abstract: Diatom communities sampled in the vicinity of the Polish Antarctic Arctowski Station (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) have been investigated. Soil and sediment samples were collected from Petrified Forest Creek and Ornithologist Creek valleys. A total of 98 diatom taxa belonging to 30 different genera were recorded in the counts. Nine taxa have a marine origin but all together constitute only 0.14% of all counted valves. Three species: Staurosira pottiezii, Psammothidium germainioides and Sellaphora jamesrossensis dominated the flora. Some differences in the diatom assemblages were observed between soil samples from two stream valleys and between soil and sediments from the same catchment area.