ReviewJournal of phycology2026
Cold comfort for change: Stream mats as biological indicators of ecosystem processes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.
Review in Journal of phycology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Cold comfort for change: Stream mats as biological indicators of ecosystem processes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.Journal of phycology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Glacier-fed streams (GFSs) make ideal systems for studying climate-related changes. Some of the best-studied GFSs are found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica, one of the Earth's coldest and driest deserts. Despite their harsh and isolated nature, MDV GFSs represent an oasis of life in a landscape visually devoid of it, with biomass dominated by photosynthetic microorganisms (including chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, and diatoms) and manifesting as benthic "mats." Mats form the basis of MDV GFS ecosystems, drive biogeochemical cycles, and harbor high proportions of the regional biodiversity. Furthermore, the biomass and composition of these mats respond to environmental fluctuations, making them ideal bioindicators for ecological monitoring. In this review, we have (1) distinguished the three major photosynthetic mat types by their taxonomic structure, habitat use, and elemental composition; (2) demonstrated how mat type distribution, coverage, and biomass are dictated by a combination of geomorphology, suspended sediment loads, and hydrology, among other factors; (3) introduced MDV diatoms as model organisms for investigating mat community assembly; and (4) speculated on how the biomass, community structure, and functional process rates of different mat types will change in a warmer and more connected world. Synthesizing this information, we suggest future opportunities for research, with the most promising avenues centering upon questions, methodologies, and scales that would have been inconceivable for the Heroic Age explorers that discovered them, ranging from studies of gene expression to cataloging changes in mat abundance by satellite.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.