Characterization of periphytic algae from Macheta and Paipa thermal springs, Colombia

摘要

Aquatic communities of inland springs often have a restricted but specialized flora and fauna that varies greatly according to water chemistry, temperature, and distance from the source of emergence. The spatial limitation of hot springs, coupled with extreme attractiveness to humans for recreation and commercial exploitation, means they are especially vulnera-ble to degradation and biodiversity loss. The aquatic commu-nity is often poorly studied or ignored, but their inclusion in any study of aquatic biodiversity of a region is vital. In this study, live and preserved samples of periphytic mats from natural and artificial substrates, muds, and water from differ-ent thermal springs in Colombia were examined to character-ize the taxonomy and ecological habitat of the constituent algae. Some mats were cultivated on solid Bristol and com-plex thermomineral media to isolate specimens for taxono-mical characterization. In addition, some ethanolic and hydrolytic extracts of mats and muds were used to evaluate its potential antibiotic production.