Benthic diatoms are the most important and biodiverse primary producers in streams and comprise the basis for the food webs, fueling animals such as insects and stream fishes including trout.
"It is known that highly biodiverse diatom communities are very efficient in producing oxygen" says Professor Janne Soininen from University of Helsinki.
"Islands have long been considered natural laboratories as they comprise a unique environment for living organisms and contribute strongly to global biodiversity, usually being biodiversity hotspots," says Ramiro Martín-Devasa, postdoctoral researcher at the Aquatic Community Ecology group at the University of Helsinki.
The researchers found that if an island is very distant, diatom biodiversity is lower than on islands near the continents. Lower biodiversity may decrease the oxygen production of diatoms.
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