Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities
Blooms of microalgae on glaciers and ice sheets are amplifying surface ice melting rates, which are already affected by climate change. Most studies on glacial microorganisms (including snow and glacier ice algae) have so far focused on the spring and summer melt season, leading to a temporal bias,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-05-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.876848/full |
| _version_ | 1817988201844834304 |
|---|---|
| author | Matthias Winkel Christopher B. Trivedi Rey Mourot James A. Bradley James A. Bradley Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand Liane G. Benning Liane G. Benning |
| author_facet | Matthias Winkel Christopher B. Trivedi Rey Mourot James A. Bradley James A. Bradley Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand Liane G. Benning Liane G. Benning |
| author_sort | Matthias Winkel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Blooms of microalgae on glaciers and ice sheets are amplifying surface ice melting rates, which are already affected by climate change. Most studies on glacial microorganisms (including snow and glacier ice algae) have so far focused on the spring and summer melt season, leading to a temporal bias, and a knowledge gap in our understanding of the variations in microbial diversity, productivity, and physiology on glacier surfaces year-round. Here, we investigated the microbial communities from Icelandic glacier surface snow and bare ice habitats, with sampling spanning two consecutive years and carried out in both winter and two summer seasons. We evaluated the seasonal differences in microbial community composition using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and ITS marker genes and correlating them with geochemical signals in the snow and ice. During summer, Chloromonas, Chlainomonas, Raphidonema, and Hydrurus dominated surface snow algal communities, while Ancylonema and Mesotaenium dominated the surface bare ice habitats. In winter, algae could not be detected, and the community composition was dominated by bacteria and fungi. The dominant bacterial taxa found in both winter and summer samples were Bacteriodetes, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. The winter bacterial communities showed high similarities to airborne and fresh snow bacteria reported in other studies. This points toward the importance of dry and wet deposition as a wintertime source of microorganisms to the glacier surface. Winter samples were also richer in nutrients than summer samples, except for dissolved organic carbon—which was highest in summer snow and ice samples with blooming microalgae, suggesting that nutrients are accumulated during winter but primarily used by the microbial communities in the summer. Overall, our study shows that glacial snow and ice microbial communities are highly variable on a seasonal basis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:31:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc5b29f617814b6187de8de4bed78b79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:31:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc5b29f617814b6187de8de4bed78b792022-12-22T02:22:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2022-05-011310.3389/fmicb.2022.876848876848Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial CommunitiesMatthias Winkel0Christopher B. Trivedi1Rey Mourot2James A. Bradley3James A. Bradley4Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand5Liane G. Benning6Liane G. Benning7GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanySchool of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyBlooms of microalgae on glaciers and ice sheets are amplifying surface ice melting rates, which are already affected by climate change. Most studies on glacial microorganisms (including snow and glacier ice algae) have so far focused on the spring and summer melt season, leading to a temporal bias, and a knowledge gap in our understanding of the variations in microbial diversity, productivity, and physiology on glacier surfaces year-round. Here, we investigated the microbial communities from Icelandic glacier surface snow and bare ice habitats, with sampling spanning two consecutive years and carried out in both winter and two summer seasons. We evaluated the seasonal differences in microbial community composition using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and ITS marker genes and correlating them with geochemical signals in the snow and ice. During summer, Chloromonas, Chlainomonas, Raphidonema, and Hydrurus dominated surface snow algal communities, while Ancylonema and Mesotaenium dominated the surface bare ice habitats. In winter, algae could not be detected, and the community composition was dominated by bacteria and fungi. The dominant bacterial taxa found in both winter and summer samples were Bacteriodetes, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. The winter bacterial communities showed high similarities to airborne and fresh snow bacteria reported in other studies. This points toward the importance of dry and wet deposition as a wintertime source of microorganisms to the glacier surface. Winter samples were also richer in nutrients than summer samples, except for dissolved organic carbon—which was highest in summer snow and ice samples with blooming microalgae, suggesting that nutrients are accumulated during winter but primarily used by the microbial communities in the summer. Overall, our study shows that glacial snow and ice microbial communities are highly variable on a seasonal basis.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.876848/fullglacier ice algaesnow algaeseasonalitymicrobial dynamicscryosphere |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Winkel Christopher B. Trivedi Rey Mourot James A. Bradley James A. Bradley Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand Liane G. Benning Liane G. Benning Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities Frontiers in Microbiology glacier ice algae snow algae seasonality microbial dynamics cryosphere |
| title | Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities |
| title_full | Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities |
| title_fullStr | Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities |
| title_short | Seasonality of Glacial Snow and Ice Microbial Communities |
| title_sort | seasonality of glacial snow and ice microbial communities |
| topic | glacier ice algae snow algae seasonality microbial dynamics cryosphere |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.876848/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matthiaswinkel seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT christopherbtrivedi seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT reymourot seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT jamesabradley seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT jamesabradley seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT andreaviethhillebrand seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT lianegbenning seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities AT lianegbenning seasonalityofglacialsnowandicemicrobialcommunities |