Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers
Meltwater streams connect the glacial cryosphere with downstream ecosystems. Dissolved and particulate matter exported from glacial ecosystems originates from contrasting supraglacial and subglacial environments, and exported microbial cells have the potential to serve as ecological and hydrological...
Published in: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/7/216917.pdf |
id |
ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:216917 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:216917 2023-05-15T14:23:45+02:00 Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers Kohler, Tyler J. Vinšová, Petra Falteisek, Lukáš Yde, Jacob C Hatton, Jade E Hawkings, Jon R Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Hood, Eran Cameron, Karen Stibal, Marek 2020-04-15 text http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/7/216917.pdf en eng Frontiers http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/7/216917.pdf Kohler, T. J., Vinšová, P., Falteisek, L., Yde, J. C., Hatton, J. E., Hawkings, J. R., Lamarche-Gagnon, G., Hood, E., Cameron, K. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/55427.html> and Stibal, M. (2020) Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers. Frontiers in Microbiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Frontiers_in_Microbiology.html>, 11, 669. (doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669 <http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669>) (PMID:32351489) (PMCID:PMC7174618) cc_by_4 CC-BY Articles PeerReviewed 2020 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669 2020-06-04T22:10:05Z Meltwater streams connect the glacial cryosphere with downstream ecosystems. Dissolved and particulate matter exported from glacial ecosystems originates from contrasting supraglacial and subglacial environments, and exported microbial cells have the potential to serve as ecological and hydrological indicators for glacial ecosystem processes. Here, we compare exported microbial assemblages from the meltwater of 24 glaciers from six (sub)Arctic regions – the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet, Qeqertarsuaq (Disko Island) in west Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, western Norway, and southeast Alaska – differing in their lithology, catchment size, and climatic characteristics, to investigate spatial and environmental factors structuring exported meltwater assemblages. We found that 16S rRNA gene sequences of all samples were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, with Verrucomicrobia also common in Greenland localities. Clustered OTUs were largely composed of aerobic and anaerobic heterotrophs capable of degrading a wide variety of carbon substrates. A small number of OTUs dominated all assemblages, with the most abundant being from the genera Polaromonas, Methylophilus, and Nitrotoga. However, 16–32% of a region’s OTUs were unique to that region, and rare taxa revealed unique metabolic potentials and reflected differences between regions, such as the elevated relative abundances of sulfur oxidizers Sulfuricurvum sp. and Thiobacillus sp. at Svalbard sites. Meltwater alpha diversity showed a pronounced decrease with increasing latitude, and multivariate analyses of assemblages revealed significant regional clusters. Distance-based redundancy and correlation analyses further resolved associations between whole assemblages and individual OTUs with variables primarily corresponding with the sampled regions. Interestingly, some OTUs indicating specific metabolic processes were not strongly associated with corresponding meltwater characteristics (e.g., nitrification and inorganic nitrogen concentrations). Thus, while exported assemblage structure appears regionally specific, and probably reflects differences in dominant hydrological flowpaths, OTUs can also serve as indicators for more localized microbially mediated processes not captured by the traditional characterization of bulk meltwater hydrochemistry. These results collectively promote a better understanding of microbial distributions across the Arctic, as well as linkages between the terrestrial cryosphere habitats and downstream ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic glaciers Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland Qeqertarsuaq Svalbard Alaska University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Arctic Greenland Norway Qeqertarsuaq ENVELOPE(-56.867,-56.867,74.400,74.400) Svalbard Frontiers in Microbiology 11 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftuglasgow |
language |
English |
description |
Meltwater streams connect the glacial cryosphere with downstream ecosystems. Dissolved and particulate matter exported from glacial ecosystems originates from contrasting supraglacial and subglacial environments, and exported microbial cells have the potential to serve as ecological and hydrological indicators for glacial ecosystem processes. Here, we compare exported microbial assemblages from the meltwater of 24 glaciers from six (sub)Arctic regions – the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet, Qeqertarsuaq (Disko Island) in west Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, western Norway, and southeast Alaska – differing in their lithology, catchment size, and climatic characteristics, to investigate spatial and environmental factors structuring exported meltwater assemblages. We found that 16S rRNA gene sequences of all samples were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, with Verrucomicrobia also common in Greenland localities. Clustered OTUs were largely composed of aerobic and anaerobic heterotrophs capable of degrading a wide variety of carbon substrates. A small number of OTUs dominated all assemblages, with the most abundant being from the genera Polaromonas, Methylophilus, and Nitrotoga. However, 16–32% of a region’s OTUs were unique to that region, and rare taxa revealed unique metabolic potentials and reflected differences between regions, such as the elevated relative abundances of sulfur oxidizers Sulfuricurvum sp. and Thiobacillus sp. at Svalbard sites. Meltwater alpha diversity showed a pronounced decrease with increasing latitude, and multivariate analyses of assemblages revealed significant regional clusters. Distance-based redundancy and correlation analyses further resolved associations between whole assemblages and individual OTUs with variables primarily corresponding with the sampled regions. Interestingly, some OTUs indicating specific metabolic processes were not strongly associated with corresponding meltwater characteristics (e.g., nitrification and inorganic nitrogen concentrations). Thus, while exported assemblage structure appears regionally specific, and probably reflects differences in dominant hydrological flowpaths, OTUs can also serve as indicators for more localized microbially mediated processes not captured by the traditional characterization of bulk meltwater hydrochemistry. These results collectively promote a better understanding of microbial distributions across the Arctic, as well as linkages between the terrestrial cryosphere habitats and downstream ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kohler, Tyler J. Vinšová, Petra Falteisek, Lukáš Yde, Jacob C Hatton, Jade E Hawkings, Jon R Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Hood, Eran Cameron, Karen Stibal, Marek |
spellingShingle |
Kohler, Tyler J. Vinšová, Petra Falteisek, Lukáš Yde, Jacob C Hatton, Jade E Hawkings, Jon R Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Hood, Eran Cameron, Karen Stibal, Marek Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
author_facet |
Kohler, Tyler J. Vinšová, Petra Falteisek, Lukáš Yde, Jacob C Hatton, Jade E Hawkings, Jon R Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Hood, Eran Cameron, Karen Stibal, Marek |
author_sort |
Kohler, Tyler J. |
title |
Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
title_short |
Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
title_full |
Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
title_fullStr |
Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers |
title_sort |
patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of arctic and sub-arctic glaciers |
publisher |
Frontiers |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/7/216917.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-56.867,-56.867,74.400,74.400) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Norway Qeqertarsuaq Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Norway Qeqertarsuaq Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic glaciers Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland Qeqertarsuaq Svalbard Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic glaciers Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland Qeqertarsuaq Svalbard Alaska |
op_relation |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/216917/7/216917.pdf Kohler, T. J., Vinšová, P., Falteisek, L., Yde, J. C., Hatton, J. E., Hawkings, J. R., Lamarche-Gagnon, G., Hood, E., Cameron, K. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/55427.html> and Stibal, M. (2020) Patterns in microbial assemblages exported from the meltwater of Arctic and sub-Arctic glaciers. Frontiers in Microbiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Frontiers_in_Microbiology.html>, 11, 669. (doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669 <http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669>) (PMID:32351489) (PMCID:PMC7174618) |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00669 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
11 |
_version_ |
1766296243881902080 |