Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Although cryoconite holes, sediment-filled melt holes on glacier surfaces, appear small and homogenous, their microbial inhabitants may be spatially partitioned. This partitioning could be particularly important for maintaining biodiversity in holes that remain isolated for many years, such as in An...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 https://doaj.org/article/769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 2023-05-15T13:54:21+02:00 Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica Pacifica Sommers John L. Darcy Dorota L. Porazinska Eli M. S. Gendron Andrew G. Fountain Felix Zamora Kim Vincent Kaelin M. Cawley Adam J. Solon Lara Vimercati Jenna Ryder Steven K. Schmidt 2019-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 https://doaj.org/article/769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 https://doaj.org/article/769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 10 (2019) Antarctica cryoconite niche partitioning extremophile bacteria ciliate Microbiology QR1-502 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 2022-12-31T05:12:35Z Although cryoconite holes, sediment-filled melt holes on glacier surfaces, appear small and homogenous, their microbial inhabitants may be spatially partitioned. This partitioning could be particularly important for maintaining biodiversity in holes that remain isolated for many years, such as in Antarctica. We hypothesized that cryoconite holes with greater species richness and biomass should exhibit greater partitioning between the sediments and water, promoting greater biodiversity through spatial niche partitioning. We tested this hypothesis by sampling frozen cryoconite holes along a gradient of biomass and biodiversity in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, where ice-lidded cryoconite holes are a ubiquitous feature of glaciers. We extracted DNA and chlorophyll a from the sediments and water of these samples to describe biodiversity and quantify proxies for biomass. Contrary to our expectation, we found that cryoconite holes with greater richness and biomass showed less partitioning of phylotypes by the sediments versus the water, perhaps indicating that the probability of sediment microbes being mixed into the water is higher from richer sediments. Another explanation may be that organisms from the water were compressed by freezing down to the sediment layer, leaving primarily relic DNA of dead cells to be detected higher in the frozen water. Further evidence of this explanation is that the dominant sequences unique to water closely matched organisms that do not live in cryoconite holes or the Dry Valleys (e.g., vertebrates); so this cryptic biodiversity could represent unknown microbial animals or DNA from atmospheric deposition of dead biomass in the otherwise low-biomass water. Although we cannot rule out spatial niche partitioning occurring at finer scales or in melted cryoconite holes, we found no evidence of partitioning between the sediments and water in frozen holes. Future work should include more sampling of cryoconite holes at a finer spatial scale, and characterizing the communities of the sediments ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) Frontiers in Microbiology 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctica cryoconite niche partitioning extremophile bacteria ciliate Microbiology QR1-502 |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica cryoconite niche partitioning extremophile bacteria ciliate Microbiology QR1-502 Pacifica Sommers John L. Darcy Dorota L. Porazinska Eli M. S. Gendron Andrew G. Fountain Felix Zamora Kim Vincent Kaelin M. Cawley Adam J. Solon Lara Vimercati Jenna Ryder Steven K. Schmidt Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Antarctica cryoconite niche partitioning extremophile bacteria ciliate Microbiology QR1-502 |
description |
Although cryoconite holes, sediment-filled melt holes on glacier surfaces, appear small and homogenous, their microbial inhabitants may be spatially partitioned. This partitioning could be particularly important for maintaining biodiversity in holes that remain isolated for many years, such as in Antarctica. We hypothesized that cryoconite holes with greater species richness and biomass should exhibit greater partitioning between the sediments and water, promoting greater biodiversity through spatial niche partitioning. We tested this hypothesis by sampling frozen cryoconite holes along a gradient of biomass and biodiversity in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, where ice-lidded cryoconite holes are a ubiquitous feature of glaciers. We extracted DNA and chlorophyll a from the sediments and water of these samples to describe biodiversity and quantify proxies for biomass. Contrary to our expectation, we found that cryoconite holes with greater richness and biomass showed less partitioning of phylotypes by the sediments versus the water, perhaps indicating that the probability of sediment microbes being mixed into the water is higher from richer sediments. Another explanation may be that organisms from the water were compressed by freezing down to the sediment layer, leaving primarily relic DNA of dead cells to be detected higher in the frozen water. Further evidence of this explanation is that the dominant sequences unique to water closely matched organisms that do not live in cryoconite holes or the Dry Valleys (e.g., vertebrates); so this cryptic biodiversity could represent unknown microbial animals or DNA from atmospheric deposition of dead biomass in the otherwise low-biomass water. Although we cannot rule out spatial niche partitioning occurring at finer scales or in melted cryoconite holes, we found no evidence of partitioning between the sediments and water in frozen holes. Future work should include more sampling of cryoconite holes at a finer spatial scale, and characterizing the communities of the sediments ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pacifica Sommers John L. Darcy Dorota L. Porazinska Eli M. S. Gendron Andrew G. Fountain Felix Zamora Kim Vincent Kaelin M. Cawley Adam J. Solon Lara Vimercati Jenna Ryder Steven K. Schmidt |
author_facet |
Pacifica Sommers John L. Darcy Dorota L. Porazinska Eli M. S. Gendron Andrew G. Fountain Felix Zamora Kim Vincent Kaelin M. Cawley Adam J. Solon Lara Vimercati Jenna Ryder Steven K. Schmidt |
author_sort |
Pacifica Sommers |
title |
Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
title_short |
Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
title_full |
Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Sediments and Water Columns of Frozen Cryoconite Holes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica |
title_sort |
comparison of microbial communities in the sediments and water columns of frozen cryoconite holes in the mcmurdo dry valleys, antarctica |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 https://doaj.org/article/769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) |
geographic |
McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley |
geographic_facet |
McMurdo Dry Valleys Taylor Valley |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 10 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 https://doaj.org/article/769def92d9cf49f4adf6279530598bc0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00065 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
10 |
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1766260070671187968 |