Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time
Glaciers are geologically important yet transient ecosystems that support diverse, biogeochemically significant microbial communities. During the melt season glaciers undergo dramatic physical, geochemical and biological changes that exert great influence on downstream biogeochemical cycles. Thus, w...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:aa252a84854d4e5c98ae1d278ff53d2b 2023-05-15T16:20:34+02:00 Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time Cody Springer Sheik Emily I Stevenson Paul A Den Uyl Carli A Arendt Sarah M Aciego Gregory J Dick 2015-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 https://doaj.org/article/aa252a84854d4e5c98ae1d278ff53d2b EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 https://doaj.org/article/aa252a84854d4e5c98ae1d278ff53d2b Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 6 (2015) microbial ecology Microbial Diversity Geomicrobiology psychrophiles Glacier Microbiology Microbiology QR1-502 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 2022-12-30T21:05:47Z Glaciers are geologically important yet transient ecosystems that support diverse, biogeochemically significant microbial communities. During the melt season glaciers undergo dramatic physical, geochemical and biological changes that exert great influence on downstream biogeochemical cycles. Thus, we sought to understand the temporal melt-season dynamics of microbial communities and associated geochemistry at the terminus of Lemon Creek Glacier (LCG) in coastal southern Alaska. Due to late season snowfall, sampling of LCG occurred in three interconnected areas: proglacial Lake Thomas, the lower glacial outflow stream and the glacier’s terminus. LCG associated microbial communities were phylogenetically diverse and varied by sampling location. However, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominated communities at all sampling locations. Strict anaerobic groups such as methanogens, SR1, and OP11 were also recovered from glacier outflows, indicating anoxic conditions in at least some portions of the LCG subglacial environment. Microbial community structure was significantly correlated with sampling location and sodium concentrations. Microbial communities sampled from terminus outflow waters exhibited day-to-day fluctuation in taxonomy and phylogenetic similarity. However, these communities were not significantly different from randomly constructed communities from all three sites. These results indicate that glacial outflows share a large proportion of phylogenetic overlap with downstream environments and that the observed significant shifts in community structure are driven by changes in relative abundance of different taxa, and not complete restructuring of communities. We conclude that LCG glacial discharge hosts a diverse and relatively stable microbiome that shifts at fine taxonomic scales in response to geochemistry and likely water residence time. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glaciers Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Lemon Creek ENVELOPE(177.452,177.452,51.987,51.987) Lake Thomas ENVELOPE(-84.500,-84.500,-78.667,-78.667) Frontiers in Microbiology 6 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
microbial ecology Microbial Diversity Geomicrobiology psychrophiles Glacier Microbiology Microbiology QR1-502 |
spellingShingle |
microbial ecology Microbial Diversity Geomicrobiology psychrophiles Glacier Microbiology Microbiology QR1-502 Cody Springer Sheik Emily I Stevenson Paul A Den Uyl Carli A Arendt Sarah M Aciego Gregory J Dick Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
topic_facet |
microbial ecology Microbial Diversity Geomicrobiology psychrophiles Glacier Microbiology Microbiology QR1-502 |
description |
Glaciers are geologically important yet transient ecosystems that support diverse, biogeochemically significant microbial communities. During the melt season glaciers undergo dramatic physical, geochemical and biological changes that exert great influence on downstream biogeochemical cycles. Thus, we sought to understand the temporal melt-season dynamics of microbial communities and associated geochemistry at the terminus of Lemon Creek Glacier (LCG) in coastal southern Alaska. Due to late season snowfall, sampling of LCG occurred in three interconnected areas: proglacial Lake Thomas, the lower glacial outflow stream and the glacier’s terminus. LCG associated microbial communities were phylogenetically diverse and varied by sampling location. However, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominated communities at all sampling locations. Strict anaerobic groups such as methanogens, SR1, and OP11 were also recovered from glacier outflows, indicating anoxic conditions in at least some portions of the LCG subglacial environment. Microbial community structure was significantly correlated with sampling location and sodium concentrations. Microbial communities sampled from terminus outflow waters exhibited day-to-day fluctuation in taxonomy and phylogenetic similarity. However, these communities were not significantly different from randomly constructed communities from all three sites. These results indicate that glacial outflows share a large proportion of phylogenetic overlap with downstream environments and that the observed significant shifts in community structure are driven by changes in relative abundance of different taxa, and not complete restructuring of communities. We conclude that LCG glacial discharge hosts a diverse and relatively stable microbiome that shifts at fine taxonomic scales in response to geochemistry and likely water residence time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cody Springer Sheik Emily I Stevenson Paul A Den Uyl Carli A Arendt Sarah M Aciego Gregory J Dick |
author_facet |
Cody Springer Sheik Emily I Stevenson Paul A Den Uyl Carli A Arendt Sarah M Aciego Gregory J Dick |
author_sort |
Cody Springer Sheik |
title |
Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
title_short |
Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
title_full |
Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
title_fullStr |
Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial communities of the Lemon Creek Glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
title_sort |
microbial communities of the lemon creek glacier show subtle structural variation yet stable phylogenetic composition over space and time |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 https://doaj.org/article/aa252a84854d4e5c98ae1d278ff53d2b |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(177.452,177.452,51.987,51.987) ENVELOPE(-84.500,-84.500,-78.667,-78.667) |
geographic |
Lemon Creek Lake Thomas |
geographic_facet |
Lemon Creek Lake Thomas |
genre |
glacier glaciers Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier glaciers Alaska |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 6 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 https://doaj.org/article/aa252a84854d4e5c98ae1d278ff53d2b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00495 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
6 |
_version_ |
1766008504354603008 |