Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake
Lake Vanda is a perennially ice-covered, closed-basin lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Laminated photosynthetic microbial mats cover the floor of the lake from below the ice cover to >40 m depth. In recent decades, the water level of Lake Vanda has been rising, creating a “natural exp...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2079-7737/2/1/151/ 2023-08-20T04:01:02+02:00 Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake Ian Hawes Dawn Sumner Dale Andersen Anne Jungblut Tyler Mackey agris 2013-01-25 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Biology; Volume 2; Issue 1; Pages: 151-176 cyanobacteria benthic communities microbial mat environmental change Antarctic lake Text 2013 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 2023-07-31T20:31:24Z Lake Vanda is a perennially ice-covered, closed-basin lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Laminated photosynthetic microbial mats cover the floor of the lake from below the ice cover to >40 m depth. In recent decades, the water level of Lake Vanda has been rising, creating a “natural experiment” on development of mat communities on newly flooded substrates and the response of deeper mats to declining irradiance. Mats in recently flooded depths accumulate one lamina (~0.3 mm) per year and accrue ~0.18 µg chlorophyll-a cm−2 y−1. As they increase in thickness, vertical zonation becomes evident, with the upper 2-4 laminae forming an orange-brown zone, rich in myxoxanthophyll and dominated by intertwined Leptolyngbya trichomes. Below this, up to six phycobilin-rich green/pink-pigmented laminae form a subsurface zone, inhabited by Leptolyngbya, Oscillatoria and Phormidium morphotypes. Laminae continued to increase in thickness for several years after burial, and PAM fluorometry indicated photosynthetic potential in all pigmented laminae. At depths that have been submerged for >40 years, mats showed similar internal zonation and formed complex pinnacle structures that were only beginning to appear in shallower mats. Chlorophyll-a did not change over time and these mats appear to represent resource-limited “climax” communities. Acclimation of microbial mats to changing environmental conditions is a slow process, and our data show how legacy effects of past change persist into the modern community structure. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys MDPI Open Access Publishing Antarctic Basin Lake ENVELOPE(161.917,161.917,-76.150,-76.150) Lake Vanda ENVELOPE(161.600,161.600,-77.517,-77.517) McMurdo Dry Valleys Pinnacle ENVELOPE(-54.900,-54.900,-61.067,-61.067) Vanda ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-77.533,-77.533) Biology 2 1 151 176 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
cyanobacteria benthic communities microbial mat environmental change Antarctic lake |
spellingShingle |
cyanobacteria benthic communities microbial mat environmental change Antarctic lake Ian Hawes Dawn Sumner Dale Andersen Anne Jungblut Tyler Mackey Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
topic_facet |
cyanobacteria benthic communities microbial mat environmental change Antarctic lake |
description |
Lake Vanda is a perennially ice-covered, closed-basin lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Laminated photosynthetic microbial mats cover the floor of the lake from below the ice cover to >40 m depth. In recent decades, the water level of Lake Vanda has been rising, creating a “natural experiment” on development of mat communities on newly flooded substrates and the response of deeper mats to declining irradiance. Mats in recently flooded depths accumulate one lamina (~0.3 mm) per year and accrue ~0.18 µg chlorophyll-a cm−2 y−1. As they increase in thickness, vertical zonation becomes evident, with the upper 2-4 laminae forming an orange-brown zone, rich in myxoxanthophyll and dominated by intertwined Leptolyngbya trichomes. Below this, up to six phycobilin-rich green/pink-pigmented laminae form a subsurface zone, inhabited by Leptolyngbya, Oscillatoria and Phormidium morphotypes. Laminae continued to increase in thickness for several years after burial, and PAM fluorometry indicated photosynthetic potential in all pigmented laminae. At depths that have been submerged for >40 years, mats showed similar internal zonation and formed complex pinnacle structures that were only beginning to appear in shallower mats. Chlorophyll-a did not change over time and these mats appear to represent resource-limited “climax” communities. Acclimation of microbial mats to changing environmental conditions is a slow process, and our data show how legacy effects of past change persist into the modern community structure. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ian Hawes Dawn Sumner Dale Andersen Anne Jungblut Tyler Mackey |
author_facet |
Ian Hawes Dawn Sumner Dale Andersen Anne Jungblut Tyler Mackey |
author_sort |
Ian Hawes |
title |
Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
title_short |
Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
title_full |
Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
title_fullStr |
Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
title_full_unstemmed |
Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake |
title_sort |
timescales of growth response of microbial mats to environmental change in an ice-covered antarctic lake |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 |
op_coverage |
agris |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.917,161.917,-76.150,-76.150) ENVELOPE(161.600,161.600,-77.517,-77.517) ENVELOPE(-54.900,-54.900,-61.067,-61.067) ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-77.533,-77.533) |
geographic |
Antarctic Basin Lake Lake Vanda McMurdo Dry Valleys Pinnacle Vanda |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Basin Lake Lake Vanda McMurdo Dry Valleys Pinnacle Vanda |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica McMurdo Dry Valleys |
op_source |
Biology; Volume 2; Issue 1; Pages: 151-176 |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151 |
container_title |
Biology |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
151 |
op_container_end_page |
176 |
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1774722174800625664 |