Quantification of basal ice microbial cell delivery to the glacier margin

• Main Authors: Toubes-Rodrigo, Mario, Cook, Simon J., Elliott, David, Sen, Robin
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Svínafellsjökull; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2016-471; https://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/bg-2016-471/

We present the first assessment of microbial cell discharge from sediment-laden glacier basal ice. At Svínafellsjökull, a temperate valley glacier in Iceland, approximately 10 17 cells a −1 are transferred through basal ice to the proglacial environment, and between 10 1 and 10 6 cells g −1 basal ice were cultured from our samples under laboratory conditions. We suggest that the delivery of viable cells and dead microbial matter to proglacial ecosystems could be playing a crucial role in soil formation and primary succession during deglaciation, but further quantification of cell transfer from a range of glacier contexts is required.