Timescales of Growth Response of Microbial Mats to Environmental Change in an Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake

• Published in: Biology
• Main Authors: Ian Hawes, Dawn Sumner, Dale Andersen, Anne Jungblut, Tyler Mackey
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2013
• Subjects: cyanobacteria; benthic communities; microbial mat; environmental change; Antarctic lake; Antarctic; Basin Lake; Lake Vanda; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Pinnacle; Vanda; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/biology2010151

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...