Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure
Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagic microbial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic waters have been well-studied, there are fewer investigations of benthic c...
Published in: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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NSF Antarctic Program:AM, KH and SS, Central Michigan University Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors(FRCE) Committee and College of Science and Technology.
2016
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11200/49389 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284/full |
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ftunivauburn:oai:aurora.auburn.edu:11200/49389 2023-09-26T15:11:17+02:00 Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure Learman, Deric R Henson, Michael W. Thrash, J. Cameron Temperton, Ben Brannock, Pamela M Santos, Scott R Mahon, Andrew R Halanych, Kenneth M Scott Santos, santosr@auburn.edu 2016 PDF 11Pages application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11200/49389 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284/full unknown NSF Antarctic Program:AM, KH and SS, Central Michigan University Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors(FRCE) Committee and College of Science and Technology. Frontiers in Microbiology 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284/full http://hdl.handle.net/11200/49389 © 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Antarctica benthic communities aquatic microbiology biogeochemistry microbial ecology Collection Journal Article, Academic Journal 2016 ftunivauburn https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 2023-08-29T09:38:35Z Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagic microbial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic waters have been well-studied, there are fewer investigations of benthic communities and most have a focused geographic range. We sampled surface sediment from 24 sites across a 5500 km region of Western Antarctica (covering the Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea) to examine relationships between microbial communities and sediment geochemistry. Sequencing of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes showed microbial communities in sediments from the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and Western Antarctica (WA), including the Ross, Amundsen, and Bellingshausen Seas, could be distinguished by correlations with organic matter concentrations and stable isotope fractionation (total organic carbon; TOC, total nitrogen; TN, and δ(13)C). Overall, samples from the AP were higher in nutrient content (TOC, TN, and NH4 (+)) and communities in these samples had higher relative abundances of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) classified as the diatom, Chaetoceros, a marine cercozoan, and four OTUs classified as Flammeovirgaceae or Flavobacteria. As these OTUs were strongly correlated with TOC, the data suggests the diatoms could be a source of organic matter and the Bacteroidetes and cercozoan are grazers that consume the organic matter. Additionally, samples from WA have lower nutrients and were dominated by Thaumarchaeota, which could be related to their known ability to thrive as lithotrophs. This study documents the largest analysis of benthic microbial communities to date in the Southern Ocean, representing almost half the continental shoreline of Antarctica, and documents trophic interactions and coupling of pelagic and benthic communities. Our results indicate potential modifications in carbon sequestration processes related to change in community composition, identifying a prospective mechanism that links climate change to ... Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Sea AUrora - Auburn University Scholarly Repository Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Frontiers in Microbiology 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AUrora - Auburn University Scholarly Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivauburn |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Antarctica benthic communities aquatic microbiology biogeochemistry microbial ecology |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica benthic communities aquatic microbiology biogeochemistry microbial ecology Learman, Deric R Henson, Michael W. Thrash, J. Cameron Temperton, Ben Brannock, Pamela M Santos, Scott R Mahon, Andrew R Halanych, Kenneth M Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
topic_facet |
Antarctica benthic communities aquatic microbiology biogeochemistry microbial ecology |
description |
Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagic microbial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic waters have been well-studied, there are fewer investigations of benthic communities and most have a focused geographic range. We sampled surface sediment from 24 sites across a 5500 km region of Western Antarctica (covering the Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea) to examine relationships between microbial communities and sediment geochemistry. Sequencing of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes showed microbial communities in sediments from the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and Western Antarctica (WA), including the Ross, Amundsen, and Bellingshausen Seas, could be distinguished by correlations with organic matter concentrations and stable isotope fractionation (total organic carbon; TOC, total nitrogen; TN, and δ(13)C). Overall, samples from the AP were higher in nutrient content (TOC, TN, and NH4 (+)) and communities in these samples had higher relative abundances of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) classified as the diatom, Chaetoceros, a marine cercozoan, and four OTUs classified as Flammeovirgaceae or Flavobacteria. As these OTUs were strongly correlated with TOC, the data suggests the diatoms could be a source of organic matter and the Bacteroidetes and cercozoan are grazers that consume the organic matter. Additionally, samples from WA have lower nutrients and were dominated by Thaumarchaeota, which could be related to their known ability to thrive as lithotrophs. This study documents the largest analysis of benthic microbial communities to date in the Southern Ocean, representing almost half the continental shoreline of Antarctica, and documents trophic interactions and coupling of pelagic and benthic communities. Our results indicate potential modifications in carbon sequestration processes related to change in community composition, identifying a prospective mechanism that links climate change to ... |
author2 |
Scott Santos, santosr@auburn.edu |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Learman, Deric R Henson, Michael W. Thrash, J. Cameron Temperton, Ben Brannock, Pamela M Santos, Scott R Mahon, Andrew R Halanych, Kenneth M |
author_facet |
Learman, Deric R Henson, Michael W. Thrash, J. Cameron Temperton, Ben Brannock, Pamela M Santos, Scott R Mahon, Andrew R Halanych, Kenneth M |
author_sort |
Learman, Deric R |
title |
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
title_short |
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
title_full |
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
title_fullStr |
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure |
title_sort |
biogeochemical and microbial variation across 5500 km of antarctic surface sediment implicates organic matter as a driver of benthic community structure |
publisher |
NSF Antarctic Program:AM, KH and SS, Central Michigan University Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors(FRCE) Committee and College of Science and Technology. |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11200/49389 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284/full |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
Frontiers in Microbiology 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284/full http://hdl.handle.net/11200/49389 |
op_rights |
© 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00284 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
7 |
_version_ |
1778131314219679744 |