Molecular ecological characterisation of high-latitude bacterioplankton ...

• Main Author: Priest, Taylor
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universität Bremen 2022
• Subjects: marine bacteria; Arctic Ocean; metagenomics; metagenome-assembled genomes; microbial communities; long-read metagenomics; microbial ecology; 500; Arctic; Fram Strait; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26092/elib/2032; https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/6672

The Arctic Ocean is undergoing irreversible perturbations as a result of accelerated climate warming. Of major significance is the expanding influence of Atlantic water that expedites sea-ice decline, alters stratification and vertical mixing of the water column and facilitates northward expansion of temperate biota. Our understanding on how these processes will impact biological communities is severely limited. The Fram Strait is the primary entry route for Atlantic water into the Arctic Ocean and exit point for polar water and sea-ice. With the presence of two major current systems combined with horizontal mixing processes, the Fram Strait is characterised by a longitudinal gradient of hydrographic regimes reflective of Arctic, mixed and Atlantic conditions. This provides an invaluable opportunity to study the ecology of microbes over an environmental gradient and under changing conditions. Furthermore, given its high-latitude position, it also facilitates investigations on how dramatic seasonal ...