Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula
Current warming in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has multiple effects on the marine ecosystem, modifying the trophic web and the nutrient regime. In this study, the effect of decreased surface salinity on the marine microbial community as a consequence of freshening from nearby glaciers was...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2021
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131310 |
| _version_ | 1826209773031260160 |
|---|---|
| author | Alcamán-Arias, María Estrella Fuentes-Alburquenque, Sebastián Vergara-Barros, Pablo Cifuentes-Anticevic, Jerónimo Verdugo, Josefa Polz, Martin Farías, Laura Pedrós-Alió, Carlos Díez, Beatriz |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alcamán-Arias, María Estrella Fuentes-Alburquenque, Sebastián Vergara-Barros, Pablo Cifuentes-Anticevic, Jerónimo Verdugo, Josefa Polz, Martin Farías, Laura Pedrós-Alió, Carlos Díez, Beatriz |
| author_sort | Alcamán-Arias, María Estrella |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Current warming in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has multiple effects on the marine ecosystem, modifying the trophic web and the nutrient regime. In this study, the effect of decreased surface salinity on the marine microbial community as a consequence of freshening from nearby glaciers was investigated in Chile Bay, Greenwich Island, WAP. In the summer of 2016, samples were collected from glacier ice and transects along the bay for 16S rRNA gene sequencing, while in situ dilution experiments were conducted and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metatranscriptomic analysis. The results reveal that certain common seawater genera, such as <i>Polaribacter</i>, <i>Pseudoalteromonas</i> and HTCC2207, responded positively to decreased salinity in both the bay transect and experiments. The relative abundance of these bacteria slightly decreased, but their functional activity was maintained and increased the over time in the dilution experiments. However, while ice bacteria, such as <i>Flavobacterium</i> and <i>Polaromonas</i>, tolerated the increased salinity after mixing with seawater, their gene expression decreased considerably. We suggest that these bacterial taxa could be defined as sentinels of freshening events in the Antarctic coastal system. Furthermore, these results suggest that a significant portion of the microbial community is resilient and can adapt to disturbances, such as freshening due to the warming effect of climate change in Antarctica. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:29:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131310 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:29:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1313102023-09-26T19:50:18Z Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula Alcamán-Arias, María Estrella Fuentes-Alburquenque, Sebastián Vergara-Barros, Pablo Cifuentes-Anticevic, Jerónimo Verdugo, Josefa Polz, Martin Farías, Laura Pedrós-Alió, Carlos Díez, Beatriz Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Current warming in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has multiple effects on the marine ecosystem, modifying the trophic web and the nutrient regime. In this study, the effect of decreased surface salinity on the marine microbial community as a consequence of freshening from nearby glaciers was investigated in Chile Bay, Greenwich Island, WAP. In the summer of 2016, samples were collected from glacier ice and transects along the bay for 16S rRNA gene sequencing, while in situ dilution experiments were conducted and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metatranscriptomic analysis. The results reveal that certain common seawater genera, such as <i>Polaribacter</i>, <i>Pseudoalteromonas</i> and HTCC2207, responded positively to decreased salinity in both the bay transect and experiments. The relative abundance of these bacteria slightly decreased, but their functional activity was maintained and increased the over time in the dilution experiments. However, while ice bacteria, such as <i>Flavobacterium</i> and <i>Polaromonas</i>, tolerated the increased salinity after mixing with seawater, their gene expression decreased considerably. We suggest that these bacterial taxa could be defined as sentinels of freshening events in the Antarctic coastal system. Furthermore, these results suggest that a significant portion of the microbial community is resilient and can adapt to disturbances, such as freshening due to the warming effect of climate change in Antarctica. 2021-09-20T14:16:08Z 2021-09-20T14:16:08Z 2021-01-01 2021-01-08T14:45:20Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131310 Microorganisms 9 (1): 88 (2021) PUBLISHER_CC http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010088 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| spellingShingle | Alcamán-Arias, María Estrella Fuentes-Alburquenque, Sebastián Vergara-Barros, Pablo Cifuentes-Anticevic, Jerónimo Verdugo, Josefa Polz, Martin Farías, Laura Pedrós-Alió, Carlos Díez, Beatriz Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title | Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title_full | Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title_fullStr | Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title_short | Coastal Bacterial Community Response to Glacier Melting in the Western Antarctic Peninsula |
| title_sort | coastal bacterial community response to glacier melting in the western antarctic peninsula |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131310 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alcamanariasmariaestrella coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT fuentesalburquenquesebastian coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT vergarabarrospablo coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT cifuentesanticevicjeronimo coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT verdugojosefa coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT polzmartin coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT fariaslaura coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT pedrosaliocarlos coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula AT diezbeatriz coastalbacterialcommunityresponsetoglaciermeltinginthewesternantarcticpeninsula |