Quantification of basal ice microbial cell delivery to the glacier margin

• Main Authors: Toubes-Rodrigo, M, Cook, SJ, Elliott, D, Sen, R
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus GmbH 2016
• Subjects: Svínafellsjökull; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617382/1/Toubes-Rodrigo%20et%20al_bg-2016-471.pdf

We present the first assessment of microbial cell discharge from sediment-laden glacier basal ice. At Svínafellsjökull, a temperate valley glacier in Iceland, approximately 1017 cells a−1 are transferred through basal ice to the proglacial environment, and between 101 and 106 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.