@article {4868, title = {An Antarctic worm and its soil ecosystem: A review of an emerging research program in ecological genomics}, journal = {Applied Soil Ecology}, volume = {193}, year = {2024}, month = {01/2024}, pages = {105110}, abstract = {

Relationships between the evolution of species and their ecosystems can be difficult to accurately assess due to the high number of confounding biological variables (e.g., biotic interactions among community members and the resulting complex relationships between genetic pathways and organism phenotypes). Thus, progress in ecological genomics by making inferences about fundamental ecological patterns and processes is hampered by high biodiversity and subsequent complex biotic interactions. Study systems that are naturally low in biological and ecological complexity, and strongly structured by abiotic drivers, can serve as models for bridging the gap between controlled mesocosm experiments and natural ecosystems. The terrestrial ecosystems of the Antarctic dry valleys have low biodiversity and constrained ecological complexity, primarily because ecological communities are so strongly shaped by physical, rather than biological, factors. The harsh constraints of the physical environment on organismal evolution and the structure of ecological communities make this an optimal natural system for disentangling the influence of specific environmental parameters on genotype/phenotype and gene by environment interactions. This work reviews the biology, evolution, and ecology of an emerging model organism, the free-living nematode Plectus murrayi, in a model ecosystem, the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica. In the MDVs, habitat suitability, including nutrient availability, has been shown to drive organismal (nematode) life history evolution, including growth and reproduction, primarily by way of changes in the expression of developmental genes. Changes in growth rates and reproductive schedules are accomplished primarily through alterations of nuclear rRNA gene copy number. The predicted and observed responses to natural experiments have been replicated in the laboratory, providing a synthesis of field observations and experimental evolution. Studying such natural model systems as this could fill several persistent knowledge gaps in our understanding of how genetic variation, genomic architecture, and gene regulation drive the genotype-phenotype paradigm, and the consequent effects of these drivers on ecosystem structure and functioning.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, ecological amplitude, ecological succession, elemental stoichiometry, extreme environments, life history evolution, model systems}, issn = {09291393}, doi = {10.1016/j.apsoil.2023.105110}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929139323003086}, author = {Xue, Xia and Thompson, Andrew R. and Adams, Byron J.} } @article {4938, title = {Brief communication: Significant biases in ERA5 output for the McMurdo Dry Valleys region, Antarctica}, journal = {The Cryosphere}, volume = {18}, year = {2024}, month = {03/2024}, pages = {1207 - 1213}, abstract = {

The ERA5 climate reanalysis dataset plays an important role in applications such as monitoring and modeling climate system changes in polar regions, so the calibration of the reanalysis to ground observations is of great relevance. Here, we compare the 2 m air temperature time series of the ERA5 reanalysis and the near-surface bias-corrected reanalysis to the near-ground air temperature measured at 17 automatic weather stations (AWSs) in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. We find that the reanalysis data have biases that change with the season of the year and do not clearly correlate with elevation. Our results show that future work should rely on secondary observations to calibrate when using the ERA5 reanalysis in polar regions.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.5194/tc-18-1207-2024}, url = {https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/1207/2024}, author = {Garza-Gir{\'o}n, Ricardo and Tulaczyk, Slawek M.} } @article {4935, title = {Sentinel protist taxa of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica: A review}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {12}, year = {2024}, month = {03/2024}, pages = {1323472}, abstract = {

High-latitude meromictic lakes such as those in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) harbor aquatic ecosystems dominated by the microbial loop. Within this habitat, which is limited year-round by light and nutrients, protists, or single celled eukaryotes, play outsized roles in the food web as the dominant primary producers and the apex predators. Thus, the MDV lake ecosystem represents an ideal system to study the role of sentinel protist taxa in carbon and nutrient cycling. The perennially ice-covered lakes are part of the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (McM LTER; mcmlter.org) established in 1993. In this review we will highlight the diversity and trophic roles of the MDV lake protist community and compare environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns in key protist taxa in two lakes within the McM LTER, Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. We will then discuss lessons learned from manipulated experiments on the impact of current and future climate-driven environmental change on sensitive protist taxa. Last, we will integrate knowledge gained from 25 years of lab-controlled experiments on key photosynthetic protists to extend our understanding of the function of these extremophiles within the MDV aquatic food webs. Our research group has studied the distribution and function of the MDV microbial community for nearly two decades, training the next generation of scientists to tackle future problems of these globally significant microbes. This review article will also highlight early career scientists who have contributed to this body of work and represent the future of scientific understanding in the Anthropocene.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, Disturbance, McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, phytoplankton, protist}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2024.1323472}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2024.1323472}, author = {Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss and Popson, Devon and Pereira, Rochelle and Dolhi-Binder, J and Teufel, Amber G. and Li, Wei and Kalra, Isha and Sherwell, Shasten S. and Reynebeau, Emily and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {4844, title = {Causes and characteristics of electrical resistivity variability in shallow (<4 m) soils in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface}, volume = {128}, year = {2023}, month = {02/2023}, pages = {e2022JF006696}, abstract = {

Airborne electromagnetic surveys collected in December 2011 and November 2018 and three soil sampling transects were used to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of shallow (\<4 m) soil properties in lower Taylor Valley (TV), East Antarctica. Soil resistivities from 2011 to 2018 ranged from \∼33 Ωm to \∼3,500 Ωm with 200 Ωm assigned as an upper boundary for brine-saturated sediments. Elevations below \∼50 m above sea level (masl) typically exhibit the lowest resistivities with resistivity increasing at high elevations on steeper slopes. Soil water content was empirically estimated from electrical resistivities using Archie\&$\#$39;s Law and range from \∼\<1\% to \∼68\% by volume. An increase in silt- and clay-sized particles at low elevations increases soil porosity but decreases hydraulic conductivity, promoting greater residence times of soil water at low elevations near Lake Fryxell. Soil resistivity variability between 2011 and 2018 shows soils at different stages of soil freeze-thaw cycles, which are caused predominantly by solar warming of soils as opposed to air temperature. This study furthers the understanding of the hydrogeologic structure of the shallow subsurface in TV and identifies locations of soils that are potentially prone to greater rates of thaw and resulting ecosystem homogenization of soil properties from projected increases in hydrological connectivity across the region over the coming decades.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, active layer, airborne electromagnetic surveys, McMurdo Dry Valleys, permafrost dynamics}, issn = {2169-9003}, doi = {10.1029/2022JF006696}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JF006696}, author = {Gutterman, William S. and Peter T. Doran and Ross A. Virginia and John E. Barrett and Myers, Krista F. and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Foley, Neil T. and Jill A. Mikucki and Hilary A. Dugan and Grombacher, Denys and Bording, Thue S. and Auken, E.} } @article {4839, title = {Impact of meltwater flow intensity on the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of microbial mats in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {ISME Communications}, volume = {3}, year = {2023}, month = {01/2023}, pages = {3}, abstract = {

The meltwater streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys are hot spots of biological diversity in the climate-sensitive polar desert landscape. Microbial mats, largely comprised of cyanobacteria, dominate the streams which flow for a brief window of time (~10 weeks) over the austral summer. These communities, critical to nutrient and carbon cycling, display previously uncharacterized patterns of rapid destabilization and recovery upon exposure to variable and physiologically detrimental conditions. Here, we characterize changes in biodiversity, transcriptional responses and activity of microbial mats in response to hydrological disturbance over spatiotemporal gradients. While diverse metabolic strategies persist between marginal mats and main channel mats, data collected from 4 time points during the austral summer revealed a homogenization of the mat communities during the mid-season peak meltwater flow, directly influencing the biogeochemical roles of this stream ecosystem. Gene expression pattern analyses identified strong functional sensitivities of nitrogen-fixing marginal mats to changes in hydrological activities. Stress response markers detailed the environmental challenges of each microhabitat and the molecular mechanisms underpinning survival in a polar desert ecosystem at the forefront of climate change. At mid and end points in the flow cycle, mobile genetic elements were upregulated across all mat types indicating high degrees of genome evolvability and transcriptional synchronies. Additionally, we identified novel antifreeze activity in the stream microbial mats indicating the presence of ice-binding proteins (IBPs). Cumulatively, these data provide a new view of active intra-stream diversity, biotic interactions and alterations in ecosystem function over a high-flow hydrological regime.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/s43705-022-00202-8}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s43705-022-00202-8}, author = {Zoumplis, Angela and Kolody, Bethany C. and Kaul, Drishti and Zheng, Hong and Venepally, Pratap and Diane M. McKnight and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and DeVries, Arthur L. and Allen, Andrew E.} } @article {4867, title = {Long-term changes in concentration and yield of riverine dissolved silicon from the poles to the tropics}, journal = {Global Biogeochemical Cycles}, year = {2023}, month = {08/2023}, abstract = {

Riverine exports of silicon (Si) influence global carbon cycling through the growth of marine diatoms, which account for \∼25\% of global primary production. Climate change will likely alter river Si exports in biome-specific ways due to interacting shifts in chemical weathering rates, hydrologic connectivity, and metabolic processes in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Nonetheless, factors driving long-term changes in Si exports remain unexplored at local, regional, and global scales. We evaluated how concentrations and yields of dissolved Si (DSi) changed over the last several decades of rapid climate warming using long-term datasets from 60 rivers and streams spanning the globe (e.g., Antarctic, tropical, temperate, boreal, alpine, Arctic systems). We show that widespread changes in river DSi concentration and yield have occurred, with the most substantial shifts occurring in alpine and polar regions. The magnitude and direction of trends varied within and among biomes, were most strongly associated with differences in land cover, and were often independent of changes in river discharge. These findings indicate that there are likely diverse mechanisms driving change in river Si biogeochemistry that span the land-water interface, which may include glacial melt, changes in terrestrial vegetation, and river productivity. Finally, trends were often stronger in months outside of the growing season, particularly in temperate and boreal systems, demonstrating a potentially important role of shifting seasonality for the flux of Si from rivers. Our results have implications for the timing and magnitude of silica processing in rivers and its delivery to global oceans.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, biogeochemistry, river, silica, silicon, stream, trends}, issn = {0886-6236}, doi = {10.1029/2022GB007678}, url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GB007678}, author = {Jankowski, Kathi Jo and Johnson, Keira and Sethna, Lienne and Julian, Paul and Wymore, Adam S. and Shogren, Arial J. and Thomas, Patrick K. and Sullivan, Pamela L. and Diane M. McKnight and McDowell, William H. and Heindel, Ruth C and Jones, Jeremy B. and Wollheim, Wilfred and Abbott, Benjamin and Deegan, Linda and Carey, Joanna C.} } @article {4865, title = {MacroSheds: A synthesis of long-term biogeochemical, hydroclimatic, and geospatial data from small watershed ecosystem studies}, journal = {Limnology and Oceanography Letters}, volume = {8}, year = {2023}, month = {06/2023}, pages = {419 - 452}, abstract = {

The US Federal Government supports hundreds of watershed monitoring efforts from which solute fluxes can be calculated. Although instrumentation and methods vary between studies, the data collected and their motivating questions are remarkably similar. Nevertheless, little effort toward their compilation has previously been made. The MacroSheds project has developed a future-friendly system for harmonizing daily time series of streamflow, precipitation, and solute chemistry from 169+ watersheds, and supplementing each with watershed attributes. Here, we describe the breadth of MacroSheds data, and detail the steps involved in rendering each data product. We provide recommendations for usage and discuss when other datasets might be more suitable. The MacroSheds dataset is an unprecedented resource for watershed science, and for hydrology, as a small-watershed supplement to existing collections of streamflow predictors, like CAMELS and GAGES-II. The MacroSheds platform includes a web dashboard for visualization and an R package for data access and analysis.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {2378-2242}, doi = {10.1002/lol2.v8.310.1002/lol2.10325}, url = {https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lol2.10325}, author = {Vlah, Michael J. and Rhea, Spencer and Bernhardt, Emily S. and Slaughter, Weston and Gubbins, Nick and DelVecchia, Amanda G. and Thellman, Audrey and Ross, Matthew R. V.} } @article {4936, title = {Antibiotic resistance genes and taxa analysis from mat and planktonic microbiomes of Antarctic perennial ice-covered Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney}, journal = {Antarctic Science}, volume = {34}, year = {2022}, month = {12/2022}, pages = {408 - 422}, abstract = {

The perennial ice-covered lakes of the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys harbour oligotrophic microbial communities that are separated geographically from other aquatic systems. Their microbiomes include planktonic microbes as well as lift-off mat communities that emerge from the ice. We used the ShortBRED protein family profiler to quantify the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from metagenomes of lift-off mats emerging from ice and from filtered water samples of Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney. The overall proportion of ARG hits was similar to that found in temperate-zone rural ponds with moderate human inputs. Specific ARGs showed distinct distributions for the two lakes and for mat vs planktonic sources. Metagenomic taxa distributions showed that mat phototrophs consisted mainly of cyanobacteria or Betaproteobacteria, whereas the water column phototrophs were mainly protists. An enrichment culture of the Betaproteobacterium Rhodoferax antarcticus from a Lake Fryxell mat sample showed an unusual mat-forming phenotype not previously reported for this species. Its genome showed no ARGs associated with Betaproteobacteria but had ARGs consistent with a minor Pseudomonas component. The Antarctic lake mats and water showed specific ARGs distinctive to the mat and water sources, but overall ARG levels were similar to those of temperate water bodies with moderate human inputs.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, microbial mat, Rhodoferax, Taylor Valley}, issn = {0954-1020}, doi = {10.1017/S0954102022000360}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0954102022000360/type/journal_article}, author = {Tallada, Sheetal and Hall, Grant and Barich, Daniel and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss and Slonczewski, Joan L.} } @article {4815, title = {Dissolved organic carbon chemostasis in Antarctic polar desert streams}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences}, volume = {127}, year = {2022}, month = {07/2022}, pages = {e2021JG006649}, abstract = {

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a key variable impacting stream biogeochemical processes. The relationship between DOC concentration (C) and stream discharge (q) can elucidate spatial and temporal DOC source dynamics in watersheds. In the ephemeral glacial meltwater streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, the C-q relationship has been applied to dissolved inorganic nitrogen and weathering solutes including silica, which all exhibit chemostatic C-q behavior; but DOC-q dynamics have not been studied. DOC concentrations here are low compared to temperate streams, in the range of 0.1-2 mg C l-1, and their chemical signal clearly indicates derivation from microbial biomass (benthic mats and hyporheic biofilm). To investigate whether the DOC generation rate from these autochthonous organic matter pools was sufficient to maintain chemostasis for DOC, despite these streams\&$\#$39; large diel and interannual fluctuations in discharge, we fit the long-term DOC-q data to a power law and an advection-reaction model. Model outputs and coefficients of variation characterize the DOC-q relationship as chemostatic for several MDV streams. We propose a conceptual model in which hyporheic carbon storage, hyporheic exchange rates, and net DOC generation rates are key interacting components that enable chemostatic DOC-q behavior in MDV streams. This model clarifies the role of autochthonous carbon stores in maintaining DOC chemostasis and may be useful for examining these relationships in temperate systems, which typically have larger sources of bioavailable autochthonous organic carbon than MDV streams but where this autochthonous signal could be masked by a stronger allochthonous contribution.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, chemostasis, concentration-discharge, DOC, ephemeral streams, LTER}, doi = {10.1029/2021JG006649}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021JG006649}, author = {Torrens, Christa L. and Michael N. Gooseff and Diane M. McKnight} } @article {4759, title = {Limits to the three domains of life: Lessons from community assembly along an Antarctic salinity gradient}, journal = {Extremophiles}, volume = {26}, year = {2022}, month = {04/2022}, pages = {15}, abstract = {

Extremophiles exist among all three domains of life; however, physiological mechanisms for surviving harsh environmental conditions differ among Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Consequently, we expect that domain-specific variation of diversity and community assembly patterns exist along environmental gradients in extreme environments. We investigated inter-domain community compositional differences along a high-elevation salinity gradient in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Conductivity for 24 soil samples collected along the gradient ranged widely from 50 to 8355 \µS cm-1. Taxonomic richness varied among domains, with a total of 359 bacterial, 2 archaeal, 56 fungal, and 69 non-fungal eukaryotic operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Richness for bacteria, archaea, fungi, and non-fungal eukaryotes declined with increasing conductivity (all P\ \<\ 0.05). Principal coordinate ordination analysis (PCoA) revealed significant (ANOSIM R\ =\ 0.97) groupings of low/high salinity bacterial OTUs, while OTUs from other domains were not significantly clustered. Bacterial beta diversity was unimodally distributed along the gradient and had a nested structure driven by species losses, whereas in fungi and non-fungal eukaryotes beta diversity declined monotonically without strong evidence of nestedness. Thus, while increased salinity acts as a stressor in all domains, the mechanisms driving community assembly along the gradient differ substantially between the domains.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, inter-domain response, McMurdo Dry Valleys, salinity, species richness patterns}, doi = {10.1007/s00792-022-01262-3}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00792-022-01262-3}, author = {Jiang, Xiaoben and David J. Van Horn and Okie, Jordan G. and Heather N. Buelow and Schwartz, Egbert and Colman, Daniel R. and Feeser, Kelli L. and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {4838, title = {The time is right for an Antarctic biorepository network}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, volume = {119}, year = {2022}, month = {12/2022}, abstract = {

Antarctica is a central driver of the Earth\’s climate and health. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica serves as a major sink for anthropogenic CO2 and heat, and the loss of Antarctic ice sheets contributes significantly to sea level rise and will continue to do so as the loss of ice sheets accelerates, with sufficient water stores to raise sea levels by 58 m. Antarctica\&$\#$39;s marine environment is home to a number of iconic species, and the terrestrial realm harbors a remarkable oasis for life, much of which has yet to be discovered. Distinctive oceanographic features of the Southern Ocean\—including the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the Antarctic Polar Front, and exceptional depths surrounding the continent\—coupled with chronically cold temperatures have fostered the evolution of a vast number of uniquely coldadapted species, many of which are found nowhere else on the Earth. The Antarctic marine biota, for example, displays the highest level of species endemism on the Earth. However, warming, ocean acidification, pollution, and commercial exploitation threaten the integrity of Antarctic ecosystems. Understanding changes in the biota and its capacities for adaptation is imperative for establishing effective policies for mitigating the impacts of climate change and sustaining the Antarctic ecosystems that are vital to global health.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0027-8424}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.2212800119}, url = {https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2212800119}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Brien, Kristin M. and Crockett, Elizabeth L. and Byron Adams and Amsler, Charles D. and Appiah-Madson, Hannah J. and Collins, Allen and Desvignes, Thomas and Detrich, H. William and Distel, Daniel L. and Eppley, Sarah M. and Frable, Benjamin W. and Franz, Nico M. and Grim, Jeffrey M. and Kocot, Kevin M. and Mahon, Andrew R. and Mayfield-Meyer, Teresa J. and Jill A. Mikucki and Moser, William E. and Schmull, Michaela and Seid, Charlotte A. and Smith, Craig R. and Todgham, Anne E. and Watkins-Colwell, Gregory J.} } @article {4576, title = {Diatoms define a novel freshwater biogeography of the Antarctic}, journal = {Ecography}, volume = {44}, year = {2021}, month = {01/2021}, pages = {1-13}, abstract = {

Terrestrial biota in the Antarctic are more globally distinct and highly structured biogeographically than previously believed, but information on biogeographic patterns and endemism in freshwater communities is largely lacking. We studied biogeographic patterns of Antarctic freshwater diatoms based on the analysis of species occurrences in a dataset of 439 lakes spread across the Antarctic realm. Highly distinct diatom floras, both in terms of composition and richness, characterize Continental Antarctica, Maritime Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands, with marked biogeographic provincialism in each region. A total of 44\% of all species is estimated to be endemic to the Antarctic, and most of them are confined to a single biogeographic region. The level of endemism significantly increases with increasing latitude and geographic isolation. Our results have implications for conservation planning, and suggest that successful dispersal of freshwater diatoms to and within the Antarctic is limited, fostering the evolution of highly endemic diatom floras.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, biogeography, diatoms, endemism, freshwater, lake}, doi = {10.1111/ecog.05374}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecog.05374}, author = {Elie Verleyen and Bart Van de Vijver and Tytgat, Bjorn and Pinseel, Eveline and Hodgson, Dominic A. and Kopalov{\'a}, Kate{\v r}ina and Steven L. Chown and Van Ranst, Eric and Imura, Satoshi and Kudoh, Sakae and Van Nieuwenhuyze, Wim and Sabbe, Koen and Vyverman, Wim} } @article {4645, title = {Phagotrophic protists and their associates: Evidence for preferential grazing in an abiotically driven soil ecosystem}, journal = {Microorganisms}, volume = {9}, year = {2021}, month = {08/2021}, pages = {1555}, abstract = {

The complex relationship between ecosystem function and soil food web structure is governed by species interactions, many of which remain unmapped. Phagotrophic protists structure soil food webs by grazing the microbiome, yet their involvement in intraguild competition, susceptibility to predator diversity, and grazing preferences are only vaguely known. These species-dependent interactions are contextualized by adjacent biotic and abiotic processes, and thus obfuscated by typically high soil biodiversity. Such questions may be investigated in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica because the physical environment strongly filters biodiversity and simplifies the influence of abiotic factors. To detect the potential interactions in the MDV, we analyzed the co-occurrence among shotgun metagenome sequences for associations suggestive of intraguild competition, predation, and preferential grazing. In order to control for confounding abiotic drivers, we tested co-occurrence patterns against various climatic and edaphic factors. Non-random co-occurrence between phagotrophic protists and other soil fauna was biotically driven, but we found no support for competition or predation. However, protists predominately associated with Proteobacteria and avoided Actinobacteria, suggesting grazing preferences were modulated by bacterial cell-wall structure and growth rate. Our study provides a critical starting-point for mapping protist interactions in native soils and highlights key trends for future targeted molecular and culture-based approaches.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, co-occurrence networks, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Rhogostoma sp., Sandona sp., soil food webs, variation partitioning}, doi = {10.3390/microorganisms9081555}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/8/1555}, author = {Thompson, Andrew R. and Roth-Monz{\'o}n, Andrea J. and Aanderud, Zachary T. and Adams, Byron J.} } @article {4734, title = {Phagotrophic protists (protozoa) in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: Diversity, distribution, ecology, and best research practices}, journal = {Polar Biology}, volume = {44}, year = {2021}, month = {08/2021}, pages = {1467-1484}, abstract = {

Phagotrophic protists (formerly protozoa) are a highly diverse, polyphyletic grouping of generally unicellular, heterotrophic eukaryotes that are key regulators of the soil microbiome. The biodiversity and ecology of soil phagotrophic protists are still largely uncharacterized, especially in the Antarctic, which possesses some of the harshest terrestrial environments known and potentially many physiologically unique and scientifically interesting species. Antarctic soil systems are also highly limited in terms of moisture, temperature, and carbon, and the resulting reduced biological complexity can facilitate fine-tuned investigation of the drivers and functioning of microbial communities. To facilitate and encourage future research into protist biodiversity and ecology, especially in context of the broader functioning of Antarctic terrestrial communities, I review the biodiversity, distribution, and ecology of Antarctic soil phagotrophic protists. Biodiversity appears to be highly structured by region and taxonomic group, with the Antarctic Peninsula having the highest taxonomic diversity and ciliates (Ciliophora) being the most diverse taxonomic group. However, richness estimates are likely skewed by disproportionate sampling (over half of the studies are from the peninsula), habitat type bias (predominately moss-associated soils), investigator bias (toward ciliates and the testate amoeba morphogroup), and methodological approach (toward cultivation and morphological identification). To remedy these biases, a standardized methodology using both morphological and molecular identification and increased emphasis on microflagellate and naked amoeba morphogroups is needed. Additionally, future research should transition away from biodiversity survey studies to dedicated ecological studies that emphasize the function, ecophysiology, endemicity, dispersal, and impact of abiotic drivers beyond moisture and temperature.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, abiotic drivers of protist communities, Antarctic protozoa, Corythion dubium, phagotrophic soil protists, protist diversity}, issn = {0722-4060}, doi = {10.1007/s00300-021-02896-3}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02896-3}, author = {Thompson, Andrew R.} } @article {4647, title = {Thermal legacy of a large paleolake in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica, as evidenced by an airborne electromagnetic survey}, journal = {The Cryosphere}, volume = {15}, year = {2021}, month = {08/2021}, pages = {3577 - 3593}, abstract = {

Previous studies of the lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have attempted to constrain lake level history, and results suggest the lakes have undergone hundreds of meters of lake level change within the last 20 000 years. Past studies have utilized the interpretation of geologic deposits, lake chemistry, and ice sheet history to deduce lake level history; however a substantial amount of disagreement remains between the findings, indicating a need for further investigation using new techniques. This study utilizes a regional airborne resistivity survey to provide novel insight into the paleohydrology of the region. Mean resistivity maps revealed an extensive brine beneath the Lake Fryxell basin, which is interpreted as a legacy groundwater signal from higher lake levels in the past. Resistivity data suggest that active permafrost formation has been ongoing since the onset of lake drainage and that as recently as 1500\–4000 years BP, lake levels were over 60 m higher than present. This coincides with a warmer-than-modern paleoclimate throughout the Holocene inferred by the nearby Taylor Dome ice core record. Our results indicate Mid to Late Holocene lake level high stands, which runs counter to previous research finding a colder and drier era with little hydrologic activity throughout the last 5000 years.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.5194/tc-15-3577-2021}, url = {https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3577/2021/}, author = {Myers, Krista F. and Peter T. Doran and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Foley, Neil T. and Bording, Thue S. and Auken, Esben and Hilary A. Dugan and Jill A. Mikucki and Foged, Nikolaj and Grombacher, Denys and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {4613, title = {Year-round and long-term phytoplankton dynamics in Lake Bonney, a permanently ice-covered Antarctic lake}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences}, volume = {126}, year = {2021}, month = {04/2021}, pages = {e2020JG005925}, abstract = {

Lake Bonney (McMurdo Dry Valleys, east Antarctica) represents a year-round refugium for life adapted to permanent extreme conditions. Despite intensive research since the 1960s, due to the logistical constraints posed by 4-months of 24-h darkness, knowledge of how the resident photosynthetic microorganisms respond to the polar winter is limited. In addition, the lake level has risen by more than 3 m since 2004: impacts of rapid lake level rise on phytoplankton community structure is also poorly understood. From 2004 to 2015 an in situ submersible spectrofluorometer (bbe FluoroProbe) was deployed in Lake Bonney during the austral summer to quantify the vertical structure of four functional algal groups (green algae, mixed algae, and cryptophytes, cyanobacteria). During the 2013\–2014 field season the Fluoroprobe was mounted on autonomous cable-crawling profilers deployed in both the east and west lobes of Lake Bonney, obtaining the first daily phytoplankton profiles through the polar night. Our findings showed that phytoplankton communities were differentially impacted by physical and chemical factors over long-term versus seasonal time scales. Following a summer of rapid lake level rise (2010\–2011), an increase in depth integrated chlorophyll a (chl-a) occurred in Lake Bonney caused by stimulation of photoautotrophic green algae. Conversely, peaks in chl-a during the polar night were associated with an increase in mixotrophic haptophytes and cryptophytes. Collectively our data reveal that phytoplankton groups possessing variable trophic abilities are differentially competitive during seasonal and long-term time scales owing to periods of higher nutrients (photoautotrophs) versus light/energy limitation (mixotrophs).

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, algae, Antarctic, fluorometry, ice, lakes, light, profiling, winter}, issn = {2169-8953}, doi = {10.1029/2020JG005925}, url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JG005925}, author = {Patriarche, Jeffrey D. and John C. Priscu and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Winslow, Luke A. and Myers, Krista F. and Heather N. Buelow and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss and Peter T. Doran} } @article {4420, title = {A global database of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition}, journal = {Scientific Data}, volume = {7}, year = {2020}, month = {03/2020}, abstract = {

As the most abundant animals on earth, nematodes are a dominant component of the soil community. they play critical roles in regulating biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics within and across landscapes and are an indicator of soil biological activity. Here,\ we present a comprehensive global dataset of soil nematode abundance and functional group composition. This dataset includes 6,825 georeferenced soil samples from all continents and biomes. For geospatial mapping purposes these samples are aggregated into 1,933 unique 1-km pixels, each of which is linked to 73 global environmental covariate data layers. Altogether,\ this dataset can help to gain insight into the spatial distribution patterns of soil nematode abundance and community composition, and the environmental drivers shaping these patterns.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/s41597-020-0437-3}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-0437-3}, author = {van den Hoogen, Johan and Geisen, Stefan and Diana H. Wall and Wardle, D and Traunspurger, Walter and de Goede, Ron G. M. and Byron Adams and Ahmad, Wasim and Ferris, Howard and Richard D. Bardgett and Bonkowski, Michael and Campos-Herrera, Raquel and Cares, Juvenil E. and Caruso, Tancredi and de Brito Caixeta, Larissa and Chen, Xiaoyun and Costa, Sofia R. and Creamer, Rachel and da Cunha e Castro, Jos{\'e} and Dam, Marie and Djigal, Djibril and Escuer, Miguel and Griffiths, Bryan S. and Guti{\'e}rrez, Carmen and Hohberg, Karin and Kalinkina, Daria and Kardol, Paul and Kergunteuil, Alan and Korthals, Gerard and Krashevska, Valentyna and Kudrin, Alexey A. and Li, Qi and Liang, Wenju and Magilton, Matthew and Marais, Mariette and Mart{\'\i}n, Jos{\'e} Antonio Rodr{\'\i}guez and Matveeva, Elizaveta and Mayad, El Hassan and Mzough, E. and Mulder, Christian and Mullin, Peter and Neilson, Roy and Nguyen, T. A. Duong and Uffe N. Nielsen and Okada, Hiroaki and Rius, Juan Emilio Palomares and Pan, Kaiwen and Peneva, Vlada and Pellissier, Lo{\"\i}c and Carlos Pereira da Silva, Julio and Pitteloud, Camille and Powers, Thomas O. and Powers, Kirsten and Quist, Casper W. and Rasmann, Sergio and Moreno, Sara S{\'a}nchez and Scheu, Stefan and Set{\"a}l{\"a}, Heikki and Sushchuk, Anna and Tiunov, Alexei V. and Trap, Jean and Vesterg{\r a}rd, Mette and Villenave, Cecile and Waeyenberge, Lieven and Wilschut, Rutger and Wright, Daniel G. and Keith, Aidan M. and Yang, Jiue-in and Schmidt, Olaf and Bouharroud, R. and Ferji, Z. and van der Putten, Wim H. and Routh, Devin and Crowther, Thomas Ward} } @article {4472, title = {The influence of environmental microseismicity on detection and interpretation of small-magnitude events in a polar glacier setting}, journal = {Journal of Glaciology}, year = {2020}, month = {07/2020}, abstract = {

Glacial environments exhibit temporally variable microseismicity. To investigate how microseismicity influences event detection, we implement two noise-adaptive digital power detectors to process seismic data from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. We add scaled icequake waveforms to the original data stream, run detectors on the hybrid data stream to estimate reliable detection magnitudes and compare analytical magnitudes predicted from an ice crack source model. We find that detection capability is influenced by environmental microseismicity for seismic events with source size comparable to thermal penetration depths. When event counts and minimum detectable event sizes change in the same direction (i.e. increase in event counts and minimum detectable event size), we interpret measured seismicity changes as \‘true\’ seismicity changes rather than as changes in detection. Generally, one detector (two degree of freedom (2dof)) outperforms the other: it identifies more events, a more prominent summertime diurnal signal and maintains a higher detection capability. We conclude that real physical processes are responsible for the summertime diurnal inter-detector difference. One detector (3dof) identifies this process as environmental microseismicity; the other detector (2dof) identifies it as elevated waveform activity. Our analysis provides an example for minimizing detection biases and estimating source sizes when interpreting temporal seismicity patterns to better infer glacial seismogenic processes.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1017/jog.2020.48}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/influence-of-environmental-microseismicity-on-detection-and-interpretation-of-smallmagnitude-events-in-a-polar-glacier-setting/E1A441425341F677117509351F3C6763}, author = {Carr, Chris G. and Carmichael, J. D. and Pettit, Erin C. and Truffer, Martin} } @article {4410, title = {Picocyanobacterial cells in near-surface air above terrestrial and freshwater substrates in Greenland and Antarctica}, journal = {Environmental Microbiology Reports}, year = {2020}, month = {03/2020}, abstract = {

Bioaerosols are an important component of the total atmospheric aerosol load, with implications for human health, climate feedbacks, and the distribution and dispersal of microbial taxa. Bioaerosols are sourced from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial surfaces, with different mechanisms potentially responsible for releasing biological particles from these substrates. Little is known about the production of freshwater and terrestrial bioaerosols in polar regions. We used portable collection devices to test for the presence of picocyanobacterial aerosols above freshwater and soil substrates in the southwestern Greenland tundra and the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. We show that picocyanobacterial cells are present in the near-surface air at concentrations ranging from 2,431 to 28,355 cells m^\−3 of air, with no significant differences among substrates or between polar regions. Our concentrations are lower than those measured using the same methods in temperate ecosystems. We suggest that aerosolization is an important process linking terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in these polar environments, and that future work is needed to explore aerosolization mechanisms and taxon-specific aerosolization rates. Our study is a first step toward understanding the production of bioaerosols in extreme environments dominated by microbial life.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/1758-2229.12832}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1758-2229.12832}, author = {Trout-Haney, Jessica V. and Heindel, Ruth C and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {4490, title = {Shotgun metagenomics reveal a diverse assemblage of protists in a model Antarctic soil ecosystem}, journal = {Environmental Microbiology}, year = {2020}, month = {08/2020}, abstract = {

The soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica are established models for understanding fundamental processes in soil ecosystem functioning (e.g. ecological tipping points, community structuring, and nutrient cycling) because the extreme physical environment drastically reduces biodiversity and ecological complexity. Understanding the functioning of MDV soils requires in-depth knowledge of the diversity of MDV soil species. Protists, which contribute significantly to soil ecosystem functioning worldwide, remain poorly characterized in the MDV. To better assess the diversity of MDV protists, we performed shotgun metagenomics on 18 sites representing a variety of landscape features and edaphic variables. Our results show MDV soil protists are diverse at both the genus (155 of 281 eukaryote genera) and family (120) levels, but comprise only 6\% of eukaryotic reads. Protists are structured by moisture, total N, and distance from the local coast, and possess limited richness in arid (\<5\% moisture) and at high elevation sites, known drivers of communities in the MDV. High relative diversity and broad distribution of protists in our study promotes these organisms as key members of MDV soil microbiomes and the MDV as a useful system for understanding the contribution of soil protists to the structure of soil microbiomes.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, extremophiles, functional groups, metagenomics, protozoa, soil microbiology}, doi = {10.1111/1462-2920.15198}, url = {https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1462-2920.15198}, author = {Thompson, Andrew R. and Geisen, Stefan and Byron Adams} } @article {4154, title = {The Antarctic psychrophiles Chlamydomonas spp. UWO241 and ICE-MDV exhibit differential restructuring of photosystem I in response to iron}, journal = {Photosynthesis Research}, volume = {9}, year = {2019}, month = {02/2019}, abstract = {

Chlamydomonas sp. UWO241 is a psychrophilic alga isolated from the deep photic zone of a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake (east lobe Lake Bonney, ELB). Past studies have shown that C. sp. UWO241 exhibits constitutive downregulation of photosystem I (PSI) and high rates of PSI-associated cyclic electron flow (CEF). Iron levels in ELB are in the nanomolar range leading us to hypothesize that the unusual PSI phenotype of C. sp. UWO241 could be a response to chronic Fe-deficiency. We studied the impact of Fe availability in C. sp. UWO241, a mesophile, C. reinhardtii SAG11-32c, as well as a psychrophile isolated from the shallow photic zone of ELB, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-MDV. Under Fe-deficiency, PsaA abundance and levels of photooxidizable P700 (ΔA820/A820) were reduced in both psychrophiles relative to the mesophile. Upon increasing Fe, C. sp. ICE-MDV and C. reinhardtii exhibited restoration of PSI function, while C. sp. UWO241 exhibited only moderate changes in PSI activity and lacked almost all LHCI proteins. Relative to Fe-excess conditions (200 μM Fe2+), C. sp. UWO241 grown in 18 μM Fe2+ exhibited downregulation of light harvesting and photosystem core proteins, as well as upregulation of a bestrophin-like anion channel protein and two CEF-associated proteins (NdsS, PGL1). Key enzymes of starch synthesis and shikimate biosynthesis were also upregulated. We conclude that in response to variable Fe availability, the psychrophile C. sp. UWO241 exhibits physiological plasticity which includes restructuring of the photo-chemical apparatus, increased PSI-associated CEF, and shifts in downstream carbon metabolism toward storage carbon and secondary stress metabolites.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, Cyclic electron flow, Iron, Photosystem I, Psychrophile}, issn = {0166-8595}, doi = {10.1007/s11120-019-00621-0}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11120-019-00621-0}, author = {Cook, Greg and Teufel, Amber and Kalra, Isha and Li, Wei and Wang, Xin and John C. Priscu and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4450, title = {The Geochemistry of Englacial Brine From Taylor Glacier, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences}, volume = {124}, year = {2019}, month = {03/2019}, abstract = {

Blood Falls is a hypersaline, iron-rich discharge at the terminus of the Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. In November 2014, brine in a conduit within the glacier was penetrated and sampled using clean-entry techniques and a thermoelectric melting probe called the IceMole. We analyzed the englacial brine sample for filterable iron (fFe), total Fe, major cations and anions, nutrients, organic carbon, and perchlorate. In addition, aliquots were analyzed for minor and trace elements and isotopes including δD and δ18O of water, δ34S and δ18O of sulfate, 234U, 238U, δ11B, 87Sr/86Sr, and δ81Br. These measurements were made in order to (1) determine the source and geochemical evolution of the brine and (2) compare the chemistry of the brine to that of nearby hypersaline lake waters and previous supraglacially sampled collections of Blood Falls outflow that were interpreted as end-member brines. The englacial brine had higher Cl\− concentrations than the Blood Falls end-member outflow; however, other constituents were similar. The isotope data indicate that the water in the brine is derived from glacier melt. The H4SiO4 concentrations and U and Sr isotope suggest a high degree of chemical weathering products. The brine has a low N:P ratio of ~7.2 with most of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the form of NH4+. Dissolved organic carbon concentrations are similar to end-member outflow values. Our results provide strong evidence that the original source of solutes in the brine was ancient seawater, which has been modified with the addition of chemical weathering products.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1029/2018JG004411}, url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018JG004411}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Jill A. Mikucki and German, Laura A. and Kathleen A. Welch and Sue Welch and Christopher B. Gardner and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Pettit, Erin C. and Kowalski, Julia and Dachwald, Bernd} } @phdthesis {4761, title = {Heterotrophic protists as useful models for studying microbial food webs in a model soil ecosystem and the universality of complex unicellular life}, volume = {PhD}, year = {2019}, school = {Brigham Young University}, type = {doctoral}, address = {Provo, UT}, abstract = {

Heterotrophic protists, consisting largely of the Cercozoa, Amoebozoa, Ciliophora, Discoba and some Stramenopiles, are a poorly characterized component of life on Earth. They play an important ecological role in soil communities and provide key insights into the nature of one of life\’s most enigmatic evolutionary transitions: the development of the complex unicell. Soil ecosystems are crucial to the functioning of global biogeochemical cycles (e.g. carbon and nitrogen) but are at risk of drastic change from anthropogenic climate change. Heterotrophic protists are the primary regulators of bacterial diversity in soils and as such play integral roles in biogeochemical cycling, nutrient mobilization, and trophic cascades in food webs under stress. Understanding the nature of these changes requires examining the rates, diversity, and resiliency of interactions that occur between soil organisms. However, soils are the most taxonomically diverse ecosystems on Earth and disentangling the complexities of dynamic and varied biotic interactions in them requires a unique model system. The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, one of the harshest terrestrial environments on Earth, serve as a model soil ecosystem owing to their highly reduced biological diversity. Exploring the functioning of heterotrophic protists in these valleys provides a way to test the applicability of this model system to other soil food webs. However, very little is known about their taxonomic diversity, which is a strong predictor of function. Therefore, I reviewed the Antarctic literature to compile a checklist of all known terrestrial heterotrophic protists in Antarctica. I found significant geographical, methodological, and taxonomic biases and outlined how to address these in future research programs. I also conducted a molecular survey of whole soil communities using 18 shotgun metagenomes representing major landscape features of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The results revealed the dominance of Cercozoa and point to an Antarctic heterotrophic protist soil community that is taxonomically diverse and reflects the structure and composition of communities at lower latitudes. To investigate whether biotic interactions or abiotic factors were a larger driver for Antarctic heterotrophic protists, I conducted variation partitioning using environmental data (e.g. moisture, pH and electrical conductivity). Biotic variables were more significant and accounted for more of the variation than environmental variables. Taken together, it is clear that heterotrophic protists play key ecological roles in this ecosystem. Deeper insights into the ecology of these organisms in the McMurdo Dry Valleys also have implications for the search for complex unicellular life in our universe. I discuss the theoretical underpinnings of searching for these forms of life outside of Earth, conclude that they are likely to occur, and postulate how future missions could practically search for complex unicells.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, heterotrophic soil protists, key evolutionary innovations, life on Mars, McMurdo Dry Valleys, network analysis, shotgun metagenomics, universal complex unicellular life}, url = {https://www.proquest.com/docview/2310631977}, author = {Thompson, Andrew R.}, editor = {Adams, Byron J.} } @article {4360, title = {Provisional checklist of terrestrial heterotrophic protists from Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Science}, year = {2019}, month = {11/2019}, abstract = {

Heterotrophic soil protists encompass lineages that are both evolutionarily ancient and highly diverse, providing an untapped wealth of scientific insight. Yet the diversity of free-living heterotrophic terrestrial protists is still largely unknown. To contribute to our understanding of this diversity, we present a checklist of heterotrophic protists currently reported from terrestrial Antarctica, for which no comprehensive evaluation currently exists. As a polar continent, Antarctica is especially susceptible to rising temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change. Establishing a baseline for future conservation efforts of Antarctic protists is therefore important. We performed a literature search and found 236 taxa identified to species and an additional 303 taxa identified to higher taxonomic levels in 54 studies spanning over 100 years of research. Isolated by distance, climate and the circumpolar vortex, Antarctica is the most extreme continent on Earth: it is not unreasonable to think that it may host physiologically and evolutionarily unique species of protists, yet currently most species discovered in Antarctica are considered cosmopolitan. Additional sampling of the more extreme intra-continental zones will probably result in the discovery of more novel and unique taxa.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1017/S0954102019000361}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/provisional-checklist-of-terrestrial-heterotrophic-protists-from-antarctica/DC08D89ABDC5AF2CC83E38B1C6F1F78C}, author = {Thompson, Andrew R. and Powell, Gareth S. and Byron Adams} } @article {4295, title = {Soil nematode abundance and functional group composition at a global scale}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {572}, year = {2019}, month = {08/2019}, abstract = {

Soil organisms are a crucial part of the terrestrial biosphere. Despite their importance for ecosystem functioning, few quantitative, spatially explicit models of the active belowground community currently exist. In particular, nematodes are the most abundant animals on Earth, filling all trophic levels in the soil food web. Here we use 6,759 georeferenced samples to generate a mechanistic understanding of the patterns of the global abundance of nematodes in the soil and the composition of their functional groups. The resulting maps show that 4.4 \± 0.64 \× 1020 nematodes (with a total biomass of approximately 0.3 gigatonnes) inhabit surface soils across the world, with higher abundances in sub-Arctic regions (38\% of total) than in temperate (24\%) or tropical (21\%) regions. Regional variations in these global trends also provide insights into local patterns of soil fertility and functioning. These high-resolution models provide the first steps towards representing soil ecological processes in global biogeochemical models and will enable the prediction of elemental cycling under current and future climate scenarios.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-019-1418-6}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1418-6}, author = {van den Hoogen, Johan and Geisen, Stefan and Routh, Devin and Ferris, Howard and Traunspurger, Walter and Wardle, D and de Goede, Ron G. M. and Byron Adams and Ahmad, Wasim and Andriuzzi, Walter S. and Richard D. Bardgett and Bonkowski, Michael and Campos-Herrera, Raquel and Cares, Juvenil E. and Caruso, Tancredi and de Brito Caixeta, Larissa and Chen, Xiaoyun and Costa, Sofia R. and Creamer, Rachel and Mauro da Cunha Castro, Jos{\'e} and Dam, Marie and Djigal, Djibril and Escuer, Miguel and Griffiths, Bryan S. and Guti{\'e}rrez, Carmen and Hohberg, Karin and Kalinkina, Daria and Kardol, Paul and Kergunteuil, Alan and Korthals, Gerard and Krashevska, Valentyna and Kudrin, Alexey A. and Li, Qi and Liang, Wenju and Magilton, Matthew and Marais, Mariette and Mart{\'\i}n, Jos{\'e} Antonio Rodr{\'\i}guez and Matveeva, Elizaveta and Mayad, El Hassan and Mulder, Christian and Mullin, Peter and Neilson, Roy and Nguyen, T. A. Duong and Uffe N. Nielsen and Okada, Hiroaki and Rius, Juan Emilio Palomares and Pan, Kaiwen and Peneva, Vlada and Pellissier, Lo{\"\i}c and Carlos Pereira da Silva, Julio and Pitteloud, Camille and Powers, Thomas O. and Powers, Kirsten and Quist, Casper W. and Rasmann, Sergio and Moreno, Sara S{\'a}nchez and Scheu, Stefan and Set{\"a}l{\"a}, Heikki and Sushchuk, Anna and Tiunov, Alexei V. and Trap, Jean and van der Putten, W and Vesterg{\r a}rd, Mette and Villenave, Cecile and Waeyenberge, Lieven and Diana H. Wall and Wilschut, Rutger and Wright, Daniel G. and Yang, Jiue-in and Crowther, Thomas Ward} } @article {4136, title = {Local and Regional Scale Heterogeneity Drive Bacterial Community Diversity and Composition in a Polar Desert}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {08/2018}, abstract = {

The distribution of organisms in an environment is neither uniform nor random but is instead spatially patterned. The factors that control this patterning are complex and the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Soil microbes are critical to ecosystem function but exhibit highly complex distributions and community dynamics due in large part to the scale-dependent effects of environmental heterogeneity. To better understand the impact of environmental heterogeneity on the distribution of soil microbes, we sequenced the 16S rRNA gene from bacterial communities in the microbe-dominated polar desert ecosystem of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica. Significant differences in key edaphic variables and alpha diversity were observed among the three lake basins of the Taylor Valley (Kruskal\–Wallis; pH: χ2 = 68.89, P \< 0.001, conductivity: χ2 = 35.03, P \< 0.001, observed species: χ2 = 7.98, P = 0.019 and inverse Simpson: χ2 = 18.52, P \< 0.001) and each basin supported distinctive microbial communities (ANOSIM R = 0.466, P = 0.001, random forest ratio of 14.1). However, relationships between community structure and edaphic characteristics were highly variable and contextual, ranging in magnitude and direction across regional, basin, and local scales. Correlations among edaphic factors (pH and soil conductivity) and the relative abundance of specific phyla were most pronounced along local environmental gradients in the Lake Fryxell basin where Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria declined while Deinococcus\–Thermus and Gemmatimonadetes increased with soil conductivity (all P \< 0.1). Species richness was most strongly related to the soil conductivity gradient present within this study system. We suggest that the relative importance of pH versus soil conductivity in structuring microbial communities is related to the length of edaphic gradients and the spatial scale of sampling. These results highlight the importance of conducting studies over large ranges of key environmental gradients and across multiple spatial scales to assess the influence of environmental heterogeneity on the composition and diversity of microbial communities.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2018.01928}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01928/full}, author = {Feeser, Kelli L. and David J. Van Horn and Heather N. Buelow and Colman, Daniel R. and McHugh, Theresa A. and Okie, Jordan G. and Schwartz, Egbert and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @inbook {4113, title = {Physiological and Biochemical Adaptations of Psychrophiles}, booktitle = {Extremophiles}, year = {2018}, publisher = {CRC Press}, organization = {CRC Press}, chapter = {9}, address = {Boca Raton}, abstract = {

The cold biosphere encompasses many microorganism-dominated habitats that rely on light-dependent primary production. Within these environments, there are numerous physical and chemical factors limiting metabolism and growth that the microorganisms must overcome. The psychrophilic microorganisms discussed herein integrate a complex spectrum of adaptive strategies to survive these physiological challenges, including genome evolution, enzyme structure and catalysis rate changes, cryoprotectant formation, and a multitude of photosynthetic adaptations. Psychrophilic organisms also hold the key to biotechnical advances and the future, such that psychrophilic enzymes are used for everything from laboratory reagents and industrial work to medical research and environmental sustainability. Researchers have learned to exploit psychrophiles\’ efficiency at low temperatures (i.e., cooler washing machines and energy-saving, cost-effective enzyme production), their higher energy activity (thus allowing lower concentrations of needed catalysts, reducing costs and procedure time), and their ability to contribute to hydrocarbon bioremediation. Although psychrophilic microbes exist in numerous habitats and undergo various adaptive strategies, an understanding of what makes an organism psychrophilic is still unknown in a large majority of cold-adapted organisms, and thus future investigations are needed regarding cold adaptation and their biotechnological potential. Even as research has increased over the last decade, new technological advances and high-throughput DNA sequencing will continue to provide information about cold adaptation or the mechanisms needed for survival in a changing world.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, url = {https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781498774932/chapters/10.1201\%2F9781315154695-9}, author = {Teufel, Amber G. and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4031, title = {Characterizing hyporheic exchange processes using high-frequency electrical conductivity-discharge relationships on subhourly to interannual timescales}, journal = {Water Resources Research}, volume = {53}, year = {2017}, month = {05/2017}, pages = {4124 - 4141}, abstract = {

Concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships are often used to quantify source water contributions and biogeochemical processes occurring within catchments, especially during discrete hydrological events. Yet, the interpretation of C-Q hysteresis is often confounded by complexity of the critical zone, such as numerous source waters and hydrochemical nonstationarity. Consequently, researchers must often ignore important runoff pathways and geochemical sources/sinks, especially the hyporheic zone because it lacks a distinct hydrochemical signature. Such simplifications limit efforts to identify processes responsible for the transience of C-Q hysteresis over time. To address these limitations, we leverage the hydrologic simplicity and long-term, high-frequency Q and electrical conductivity (EC) data from streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. In this two end-member system, EC can serve as a proxy for the concentration of solutes derived from the hyporheic zone. We utilize a novel approach to decompose loops into subhysteretic EC-Q dynamics to identify individual mechanisms governing hysteresis across a wide range of timescales. We find that hydrologic and hydraulic processes govern EC response to diel and seasonal Q variability and that the effects of hyporheic mixing processes on C-Q transience differ in short and long streams. We also observe that variable hyporheic turnover rates govern EC-Q patterns at daily to interannual timescales. Last, subhysteretic analysis reveals a period of interannual freshening of glacial meltwater streams related to the effects of unsteady flow on hyporheic exchange. The subhysteretic analysis framework we introduce may be applied more broadly to constrain the processes controlling C-Q transience and advance understanding of catchment evolution.\ 

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1002/wrcr.v53.510.1002/2016WR019739}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016WR019739/full}, author = {Singley, Joel G. and Wlostowski, Adam and Bergstrom, Anna J. and Eric R. Sokol and Torrens, Christa L. and Chris Jaros and Wilson, Colleen E. and Hendrickson, Patrick J. and Michael N. Gooseff} } @article {4112, title = {A communal catalogue reveals Earth{\textquoteright}s multiscale microbial diversity}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {551}, year = {2017}, month = {11/2017}, chapter = {457}, abstract = {

Our growing awareness of the microbial world\’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth\’s microbial diversity.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/nature24621}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24621}, author = {Thompson, Luke R. and Sanders, Jon G. and McDonald, Daniel and Amir, Amnon and Ladau, Joshua and Locey, Kenneth J. and Prill, Robert J. and Tripathi, Anupriya and Gibbons, Sean M. and Ackermann, Gail and Navas-Molina, Jose A. and Janssen, Stefan and Kopylova, Evguenia and V{\'a}zquez-Baeza, Yoshiki and Antonio Gonz{\'a}lez and Morton, James T. and Mirarab, Siavash and Zech Xu, Zhenjiang and Jiang, Lingjing and Haroon, Mohamed F. and Kanbar, Jad and Zhu, Qiyun and Jin Song, Se and Kosciolek, Tomasz and Bokulich, Nicholas A. and Lefler, Joshua and Brislawn, Colin J. and Humphrey, Gregory and Owens, Sarah M. and Hampton-Marcell, Jarrad and Berg-Lyons, Donna and McKenzie, Valerie and Noah Fierer and Fuhrman, Jed A. and Clauset, Aaron and Stevens, Rick L. and Shade, Ashley and Pollard, Katherine S. and Goodwin, Kelly D. and Jansson, Janet K. and Gilbert, Jack A. and Knight, Rob and The Earth Microbiome Project Consortium} } @article {4022, title = {Decadal ecosystem response to an anomalous melt season in a polar desert in Antarctica}, journal = {Nature Ecology \& Evolution}, volume = {1}, year = {2017}, month = {09/2017}, pages = {1334-1338}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/s41559-017-0253-0}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0253-0}, author = {Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Byron Adams and Peter T. Doran and Andrew G Fountain and W. Berry Lyons and Diane M. McKnight and John C. Priscu and Eric R. Sokol and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Martijn L. Vandegehuchte and Ross A. Virginia and Diana H. Wall} } @article {4024, title = {Decoupled responses of soil bacteria and their invertebrate consumer to warming, but not freeze-thaw cycles, in the Antarctic Dry Valleys}, journal = {Ecology Letters}, volume = {20}, year = {2017}, month = {10/2017}, pages = {1242-1249}, abstract = {

Altered temperature profiles resulting in increased warming and freeze\–thaw cycle (FTC) frequency pose great ecological challenges to organisms in alpine and polar ecosystems. We performed a laboratory microcosm experiment to investigate how temperature variability affects soil bacterial cell numbers, and abundance and traits of soil microfauna (the microbivorous nematode Scottnema lindsayae) from McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. FTCs and constant freezing shifted nematode body size distribution towards large individuals, driven by higher mortality among smaller individuals. FTCs reduced both bacterial and nematode abundance, but bacterial cell numbers also declined under warming, demonstrating decoupled consumer\–prey responses. We predict that higher occurrence of FTCs in cold ecosystems will select for large body size within soil microinvertebrates and overall reduce their abundance. In contrast, warm temperatures without FTCs could lead to divergent responses in soil bacteria and their microinvertebrate consumers, potentially affecting energy and nutrient transfer rates in soil food webs of cold ecosystems.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/ele.12819}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12819/full}, author = {Matthew Knox and Andriuzzi, Walter S. and Heather N. Buelow and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Byron Adams and Diana H. Wall} } @article {4115, title = {Impact of nitrogen and phosphorus on phytoplankton production and bacterial community structure in two stratified Antarctic lakes: a bioassay approach}, journal = {Polar Biology}, volume = {40}, year = {2017}, month = {05/2017}, chapter = {1007}, abstract = {

Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine ecosystems are recognized as sensors and sentinels of global change. As a consequence of their high sensitivity to minor climatic perturbations, permanently ice-covered lakes located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, represent end members in the global network of inland bodies of water. Episodic climatic events in the form of increased summer glacial melt result in inputs of organic sediment and nutrients from glacial streams to these closed basins. Phytoplankton communities residing in the oligotrophic water columns are highly responsive to pulses in nutrient availability; however, there is a lack of understanding on whether specific phytoplankton groups are more competitive during a summer flood event and how shifts in the phytoplankton community may influence heterotrophic bacteria. A bioassay approach in 3-l bottles was used to investigate the influence of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus availability on planktonic communities from the oligotrophic upper waters of two chemically distinct MDV lakes (Lakes Bonney and Fryxell) which differ in their external inputs and water column N/P stoichiometry. While microbial community responses varied between lakes and were nutrient-dependent, stimulation of phytoplankton biomass and productivity across all treatments was strongly linked with increased abundance of a single phytoplankton phylum (Chlorophyta). Despite stimulation of phytoplankton growth, primary and bacterial productivity was generally uncoupled; however, shifts in bacterial community diversity were observed in bioassays amended with either P or NP. We suggest that climate-associated increases in phytoplankton production and concomitant shifts in diversity will influence MDV bacterial community structure by altering the availability and composition of autochthonous carbon for heterotrophic production.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Algal{\textendash}bacteria interactions, climate change, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Nutrient bioassay, Primary production}, issn = {0722-4060}, doi = {10.1007/s00300-016-2025-8}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-016-2025-8}, author = {Teufel, Amber G. and Li, Wei and Kiss, Andor J. and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4103, title = {Niche specialization of bacteria in permanently ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Environmental Microbiology}, volume = {19}, year = {2017}, month = {06/2017}, pages = {2258 - 2271}, abstract = {

Perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, are chemically stratified with depth and have distinct biological gradients. Despite long-term research on these unique environments, data on the structure of the microbial communities in the water columns of these lakes are scarce. Here, we examined bacterial diversity in five ice-covered Antarctic lakes by 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing. Distinct communities were present in each lake, reflecting the unique biogeochemical characteristics of these environments. Further, certain bacterial lineages were confined exclusively to specific depths within each lake. For example, candidate division WM88 occurred solely at a depth of 15 m in Lake Fryxell, whereas unknown lineages of\ Chlorobi\ were found only at a depth of 18 m in Lake Miers, and two distinct classes of\ Firmicutes\ inhabited East and West Lobe Bonney at depths of 30 m. Redundancy analysis revealed that community variation of bacterioplankton could be explained by the distinct conditions of each lake and depth; in particular, assemblages from layers beneath the chemocline had biogeochemical associations that differed from those in the upper layers. These patterns of community composition may represent bacterial adaptations to the extreme and unique biogeochemical gradients of ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/emi.2017.19.issue-610.1111/1462-2920.13721}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.13721}, author = {Kwon, Miye and Kim, Mincheol and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Lee, Jaejin and Hong, Soon Gyu and Kim, Sang Jong and John C. Priscu and Kim, Ok-Sun} } @article {4021, title = {Primary productivity as a control over soil microbial diversity along environmental gradients in a polar desert ecosystem}, journal = {PeerJ}, volume = {5}, year = {2017}, month = {07/2017}, pages = {e3377}, abstract = {

Primary production is the fundamental source of energy to foodwebs and ecosystems, and is thus an important constraint on soil communities. This coupling is particularly evident in polar terrestrial ecosystems where biological diversity and activity is tightly constrained by edaphic gradients of productivity (e.g., soil moisture, organic carbon availability) and geochemical severity (e.g., pH, electrical conductivity). In the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, environmental gradients determine numerous properties of soil communities and yet relatively few estimates of gross or net primary productivity (GPP, NPP) exist for this region. Here we describe a survey utilizing pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometry to estimate rates of GPP across a broad environmental gradient along with belowground microbial diversity and decomposition. PAM estimates of GPP ranged from an average of 0.27 mmol O2/m2/s in the most arid soils to an average of 6.97 mmol O2/m2/s in the most productive soils, the latter equivalent to 217 g C/m2/y in annual NPP assuming a 60 day growing season. A diversity index of four carbon-acquiring enzyme activities also increased with soil productivity, suggesting that the diversity of organic substrates in mesic environments may be an additional driver of microbial diversity. Overall, soil productivity was a stronger predictor of microbial diversity and enzymatic activity than any estimate of geochemical severity. These results highlight the fundamental role of environmental gradients to control community diversity and the dynamics of ecosystem-scale carbon pools in arid systems.\ 

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.7717/peerj.3377}, url = {https://peerj.com/articles/3377/}, author = {Kevin M. Geyer and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett} } @article {3713, title = {Aerobiology Over Antarctica {\textendash} A New Initiative for Atmospheric Ecology}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {776796194610314927235011365134445142846479110123936574}, year = {2016}, month = {02/2016}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2016.00016}, url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/Article/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00016/abstract}, author = {Pearce, David A. and Alekhina, Irina A. and Terauds, Aleks and Wilmotte, Annick and Quesada, Antonio and Edwards, Arwyn and Dommergue, Aurelien and Sattler, Birgit and Byron Adams and Magalhaes, Catarina and Chu, Wan-Loy and Lau, Maggie C. Y. and Craig S Cary and Smith, David J. and Diana H. Wall and Eguren, Gabriela and Matcher, Gwynneth and Bradley, James A. and de Vera, Jean-Pierre and Elster, Josef and Hughes, Kevin A. and Cuthbertson, Lewis and Benning, Liane G. and Gunde-Cimerman, Nina and Convey, Peter and Hong, Soon Gyu and Pointing, Steve B. and Pellizari, Vivian H. and Vincent, Warwick F.} } @phdthesis {4167, title = {Influence of abiotic drivers (light and nutrients) on photobiology and diversity of Antarctic lake phytoplankton communities}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2016}, month = {2016}, school = {Miami University}, type = {doctoral}, address = {Oxford, OH}, abstract = {

Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine ecosystems are recognized as sensors and sentinels of global climate change. As a consequence of their high sensitivity to minor climatic perturbations, permanently ice-covered lakes located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM), Antarctica, represent end members in the global network of inland bodies of water. Episodic climatic events in the form of increased summer glacial melt result in inputs of organic sediment and nutrients from glacial streams to these closed basins. By better understanding how Antarctic lake communities respond to mimicked climate change, we can more accurately predict how they will react to further temperature changes in the future. We began by investigating the influence of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus availability on planktonic communities residing in the oligotrophic upper waters of two chemically distinct MCM lakes (Lakes Bonney and Fryxell) which differ in their external inputs as well as water column N:P stoichiometry. Although microbial community responses varied between the lakes and were nutrient-dependent, stimulation of phytoplankton biomass and productivity across all treatments was strongly linked with increased abundance of a single phytoplankton phylum (Chlorophyta). Despite stimulation of phytoplankton growth, primary and bacterial productivity were largely uncoupled across all enrichments. We suggest that climate-associated shifts in phytoplankton diversity influence the bacterial community structure by altering the availability and composition of autochthonous carbon for heterotrophic production. To monitor the physiological adaptations that occur over time and depth, we then transplanted two dominant phytoplankton, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE- MDV and Isochrysis sp. MDV back into the Lake Bonney water column. Our results demonstrated that both organisms are specialists for surviving specific depths of the water column and are capable of acclimating to their native environment within a short period of time, and that the chlorophyte Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-MDV most likely makes this adjustment via photoacclimation and accumulating chlorophyll-a per cell. The final study presented here investigated whether or not the dominant chlorophyte, Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-MDV has retained the ability to respond to a diel 12-hour day/night cycle. Although light levels in MCM lakes remain low during the austral summers, daily irradiation varies by as much as tenfold during the course of the day, resulting in a circadian-like light cycle for organisms residing there. With decreased ice coverage on the lakes due to climate change and increased melt, it is likely that these light variations will become amplified over time. This study tested for the presence of a circadian rhythm under various light quality, light quantity, and temperature conditions and demonstrated that although a diel rhythm was maintained in terms of growth and several photochemical parameters, a true circadian rhythm was not identified. Although it is predicted that photosynthetic communities in polar regions will be more responsive to climate warming and episodic events, the complexity of these systems provides numerous challenges to understanding how these organism will adapt in the future.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, bacterial production, Chlamydomonas sp ICE MDV, Chlorophyll fluorescence, circadian rhythm, climate change, McMurdo Dry Valleys, nutrient amendment, photobiology, Primary production}, url = {http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1468411564}, author = {Teufel, Amber G. and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4017, title = {Microbial Community Dynamics in Two Polar Extremes: The Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the West Antarctic Peninsula Marine Ecosystem}, journal = {BioScience}, volume = {66}, year = {2016}, month = {Jan-10-2016}, pages = {829 - 847}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0006-3568}, doi = {10.1093/biosci/biw103}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/biosci/biw103https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/66/10/829/2236137/Microbial-Community-Dynamics-in-Two-Polar-Extremes}, author = {Bowman, Jeff S. and Trista J. Vick-Majors and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Hugh W. Ducklow and John C. Priscu} } @article {3952, title = {Microbial Community Responses to Increased Water and Organic Matter in the Arid Soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {07/2016}, chapter = {1040}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2016.01040}, url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01040}, author = {Heather N. Buelow and Winter, Ara S. and David J. Van Horn and John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Schwartz, Egbert and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {3959, title = {Nutrient treatments alter microbial mat colonization in two glacial meltwater streams from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {FEMS Microbiology Ecology}, volume = {92}, year = {2016}, month = {03/2016}, pages = {fiw049}, abstract = {

Microbial mats are abundant in many alpine and polar aquatic ecosystems. With warmer temperatures, new hydrologic pathways are developing in these regions and increasing dissolved nutrient fluxes. In the McMurdo Dry Valleys, thermokarsting may release both nutrients and sediment, and has the potential to influence mats in glacial meltwater streams. To test the role of nutrient inputs on community structure, we created nutrient diffusing substrata (NDS) with agar enriched in N, P and N + P, with controls, and deployed them into two Dry Valley streams. We found N amendments (N and N + P) to have greater chlorophyll-a concentrations, total algal biovolume, more fine filamentous cyanobacteria and a higher proportion of live diatoms than other treatments. Furthermore, N treatments were substantially elevated in Bacteroidetes and the small diatom,\ Fistulifera pelliculosa. On the other hand, species richness was almost double in P and N + P treatments over others, and coccoid green algae and Proteobacteria were more abundant in both streams. Collectively, these data suggest that nutrients have the potential to stimulate growth and alter community structure in glacial meltwater stream microbial mats, and the recent erosion of permafrost and accelerated glacial melt will likely impact resident biota in polar lotic systems here and elsewhere.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1093/femsec/fiw049}, url = {http://femsec.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/femsec/fiw049}, author = {Tyler J. Kohler and David J. Van Horn and Darling, Joshua P. and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Diane M. McKnight}, editor = {Wagner, Dirk} } @article {3958, title = {Patterns of bacterial biodiversity in the glacial meltwater streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {FEMS Microbiology Ecology}, volume = {92}, year = {2016}, month = {08/2016}, pages = {fiw148}, abstract = {

Microbial consortia dominate glacial meltwater streams from polar regions, including the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), where they thrive under physiologically stressful conditions. In this study, we examined microbial mat types and sediments found in 12 hydrologically diverse streams to describe the community diversity and composition within and across sites. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene from 129 samples revealed \∼24 000 operational taxonomic units (\<97\% DNA similarity), making streams the most biodiverse habitat in the MDV. Principal coordinate analyses revealed significant but weak clustering by mat type across all streams (ANOSIM R-statistic = 0.28) but stronger clustering within streams (ANOSIM R-statistic from 0.28 to 0.94). Significant relationships (P \< 0.05) were found between bacterial diversity and mat ash-free dry mass, suggesting that diversity is related to the hydrologic regimes of the various streams, which are predictive of mat biomass. However, correlations between stream chemistry and community members were weak, possibly reflecting the importance of internal processes and hydrologic conditions. Collectively, these results suggest that localized conditions dictate bacterial community composition of the same mat types and sediments from different streams, and while MDV streams are hotspots of biodiversity in an otherwise depauperate landscape, controls on community structure are complex and site specific.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1093/femsec/fiw148}, url = {http://femsec.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/femsec/fiw148}, author = {David J. Van Horn and Wolf, Caitlin R. and Colman, Daniel R. and Jiang, Xiaoben and Tyler J. Kohler and Diane M. McKnight and Lee F. Stanish and Yazzie, Terrill and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {4033, title = {Physiological Ecology of Microorganisms in Subglacial Lake Whillans}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {Mar-10-2018}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2016.01705}, url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01705/fullhttp://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01705/full}, author = {Trista J. Vick-Majors and Mitchell, Andrew and Achberger, Amanda and Brent C. Christner and John E. Dore and Alexander B. Michaud and Jill A. Mikucki and Purcell, Alicia M. and Skidmore, Mark L. and John C. Priscu} } @article {3204, title = {Comparison of arsenic and molybdenum geochemistry in meromictic lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Implications for oxyanion-forming trace element behavior in permanently stratified lakes}, journal = {Chemical Geology}, volume = {404}, year = {2015}, month = {05/2015}, pages = {110 - 125}, chapter = {110}, abstract = {

Water samples were collected for arsenic (As) and molybdenum (Mo) analysis from different depths in Lakes Hoare and Fryxell, both of which are located in the Taylor Valley within the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Sampling depths within each lake were chosen to capture variations in As and Mo concentrations and As speciation in the oxic mixolimnia and anoxic monimolimnia of these meromictic lakes. Arsenic concentrations ranged from 0.67\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ to 3.54\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ in Lake Hoare and from 1.69\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ to 17.5\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ in Lake Fryxell. Molybdenum concentrations varied between 5.05\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ and 43\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ in Lake Hoare, and between 3.52\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ and 25.5\ nmol\ kg\−\ 1\ in Lake Fryxell. Concentrations of As and Mo generally increased with depth in the mixolimnion of each lake, consistent with uptake near the ice\–water interface by organic particles and/or Fe/Mn oxides/oxyhydroxides, followed by gravitational settling and regeneration/remineralization at depth in the vicinity of the redoxcline. Arsenic concentrations either remained constant (Hoare) or increased with depth (Fryxell) in the anoxic monimolimnia, whereas Mo exhibited dramatic decreases in concentrations across the redoxcline in both lakes. Geochemical modeling predicts that As and Mo occur as thioanions in the anoxic bottom waters of Lakes Hoare and Fryxell, and further that the contrasting behavior of both trace elements reflects the respective reactivity of their thioanions towards Fe-sulfide minerals such as mackinawite (FeS) and/or pyrite (FeS2). More specifically, the geochemical model suggests that Fe-sulfide mineral precipitation in the anoxic monimolimnia of both lakes regulates dissolved sulfide concentrations at levels that are too low for As-sulfide minerals (e.g., orpiment, realgar) to precipitate, whereas mackinawite and/or pyrite react(s) with particle reactive thiomolybdate anions, possibly forming an Fe\–Mo\–S mineral that precipitates and, hence, leads to Mo removal from solution.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {00092541}, doi = {10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.03.029}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0009254115001874http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0009254115001874?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0009254115001874?httpAccept=text/plain}, author = {Yang, Ningfang and Kathleen A. Welch and Mohajerin, T. Jade and Telfeyan, Katherine and Chevis, Darren A. and Grimm, Deborah A. and W. Berry Lyons and White, Christopher D. and Johannesson, Karen H.} } @article {3012, title = {Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, month = {Apr-04-2017}, pages = {6831}, abstract = {The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below glaciers and lakes. One system emanates from below Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney and a second system connects the ocean with the eastern 18 km of the valley. A connection between these two basins was not detected to the depth limitation of the AEM survey (~350 m).}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms7831}, url = {http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ncomms7831}, author = {Jill A. Mikucki and Auken, E. and Tulaczyk, S and Ross A. Virginia and Schamper, C. and S{\o}rensen, K. I. and Peter T. Doran and Hilary A. Dugan and Foley, N.} } @article {3720, title = {Linking management to biodiversity in built ponds using metacommunity simulations}, journal = {Ecological Modelling}, volume = {296}, year = {2015}, month = {01/2015}, pages = {36 - 45}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {03043800}, doi = {10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2014.10.022}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0304380014004918}, author = {Eric R. Sokol and Brown, Bryan L. and Carey, Cayelan C. and Tornwall, Brett M. and Swan, Christopher M. and John E. Barrett} } @article {3522, title = {Niche and metabolic principles explain patterns of diversity and distribution: theory and a case study with soil bacterial communities}, journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, volume = {282}, year = {2015}, month = {05/2015}, pages = {2630}, abstract = {

The causes of biodiversity patterns are controversial and elusive due to complex environmental variation, covarying changes in communities, and lack of baseline and null theories to differentiate straightforward causes from more complex mechanisms. To address these limitations, we developed general diversity theory integrating metabolic principles with niche-based community assembly. We evaluated this theory by investigating patterns in the diversity and distribution of soil bacteria taxa across four orders of magnitude variation in spatial scale on an Antarctic mountainside in low complexity, highly oligotrophic soils. Our theory predicts that lower temperatures should reduce taxon niche widths along environmental gradients due to decreasing growth rates, and the changing niche widths should lead to contrasting α- and β-diversity patterns. In accord with the predictions, α-diversity, niche widths and occupancies decreased while β-diversity increased with increasing elevation and decreasing temperature. The theory also successfully predicts a hump-shaped relationship between α-diversity and pH and a negative relationship between α-diversity and salinity. Thus, a few simple principles explained systematic microbial diversity variation along multiple gradients. Such general theory can be used to disentangle baseline effects from more complex effects of temperature and other variables on biodiversity patterns in a variety of ecosystems and organisms.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0962-8452}, doi = {10.1098/rspb.2014.2630}, url = {http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.2630}, author = {Okie, Jordan G. and David J. Van Horn and Storch, David and John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Kopsova, Lenka and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {3214, title = {Autonomous Year-Round Sampling and Sensing to Explore the Physical and Biological Habitability of Permanently Ice-Covered Antarctic Lakes}, journal = {Marine Technology Society Journal}, volume = {48}, year = {2014}, month = {Jan-09-2014}, pages = {8 - 17}, abstract = {

The lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, are some of the only systems on our planet that are perennially ice-covered and support year-round metabolism. As such, these ecosystems can provide important information on conditions and life in polar regions on Earth and on other icy worlds in our solar system. Working in these extreme environments of the Dry Valleys poses many challenges, particularly with respect to data collection during dark winter months when logistical constraints make fieldwork difficult. In this paper, we describe the motivation, design, and challenges for this recently deployed instrumentation in Lake Bonney, a lake that has been the subject of summer research efforts for more than 40 years. The instrumentation deployed includes autonomous water, phytoplankton, and sediment samplers as well as cable-mounted profiling platforms with dissolved gas and fluorometry sensors. Data obtained from these instruments will allow us, for the first time, to define the habitability of this environment during the polar night. We include lessons learned during deployment and recommendations for effective instrument operation in these extreme conditions.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {00253324}, doi = {10.4031/MTSJ.48.5.6}, url = {http://openurl.ingenta.com/content/xref?genre=article\&issn=0025-3324\&volume=48\&issue=5\&spage=8http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mts/mtsj/2014/00000048/00000005/art00002}, author = {Winslow, Luke A. and Hilary A. Dugan and Heather N. Buelow and Cronin, Kyle D. and John C. Priscu and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Peter T. Doran} } @article {1054, title = {Bacterial community composition of divergent soil habitats from a polar desert.}, journal = {FEMS Microbiology Ecology}, volume = {89}, year = {2014}, month = {08/2014}, pages = {490-494}, type = {Short Communication}, chapter = {490}, abstract = {Edaphic factors such as pH, organic matter, and salinity are often the most significant drivers of diversity patterns in soil bacterial communities. Desert ecosystems in particular are model locations for examining such relationships as food web complexity is low and the soil environment is biogeochemically heterogeneous. Here, we present the findings from a 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach used to observe the differences in diversity and community composition among three divergent soil habitats of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Results show that alpha diversity is significantly lowered in high pH soils, which contain higher proportions of the phyla Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria, while mesic soils with higher soil organic carbon (and ammonium) content contain high proportions of Nitrospira, a nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. Taxonomic community resolution also had a significant impact on our conclusions, as pH was the primary predictor of phylum-level diversity, while moisture was the most significant predictor of diversity at the genus level. Predictive power also increased with increasing taxonomic resolution, suggesting a potential increase in nic}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/1574-6941.12306}, author = {Kevin M. Geyer and Adam E. Altrichter and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett} } @article {1055, title = {Characterization of Growing Bacterial Populations in McMurdo Dry Valley Soils through Stable Isotope Probing with 18O-water.}, journal = {FEMS Microbiology Ecology.}, volume = {89}, year = {2014}, month = {08/2014}, pages = {415-425}, chapter = {415}, abstract = {Soil microbial communities of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (MDV) contain representatives from at least fourteen bacterial phyla. However, given low rates of microbial activity, it is unclear whether this richness represents functioning rather than dormant members of the community. We used stable isotope probing (SIP) with (18) O-water to determine if microbial populations grow in MDV soils. Changes in the microbial community were characterized in soils amended with H2 (18) O and H2 (18) O-organic matter. Sequencing the 16S rRNA genes of the heavy and light fractions of the bacterial community DNA shows that DNA of microbial populations was labeled with (18) O-water, indicating these micro-organisms grew in the MDV soils. Significant differences existed in the community composition of the heavy and light fractions of the H2 (18) O and H2 (18) O-organic matter amended samples (Anosim P < 0.05 of weighted Unifrac distance). Control samples and the light DNA fraction of the H2 (18) O amended samples were dominated by representatives of the phyla Deinococcus-Thermus, Proteobacteria, Planctomyces, Gemmatimonadetes, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria, whereas Proteobacteria were more prevalent in the heavy DNA fractions from the H2 (18) O-water and the H2 (18) O-water-organic matter treatments. Our results indicate that SIP with H2 (18) O can be used to distinguish active bacterial populations even in this low organic matter environment.}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/1574-6941.12349}, author = {Schwartz, E. and David J. Van Horn and Heather N. Buelow and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Okie, J.G.} } @article {1064, title = {Soil microbial responses to increased moisture and organic resources along a salinity gradient in a polar desert.}, journal = {Applied and Environmental Microbiology.}, volume = {80}, year = {2014}, month = {05/2014}, pages = {3034-3043}, chapter = {3034}, abstract = {Microbial communities in extreme environments often have low diversity and specialized physiologies suggesting a limited resistance to change. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) are a microbially dominated, extreme ecosystem currently undergoing climate change-induced disturbances, including the melting of massive buried ice, cutting through of permafrost by streams, and warming events. These processes are increasing moisture across the landscape, altering conditions for soil communities by mobilizing nutrients and salts and stimulating autotrophic carbon inputs to soils. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of resource addition (water/organic matter) on the composition and function of microbial communities in the MDV along a natural salinity gradient representing an additional gradient of stress in an already extreme environment. Soil respiration and the activity of carbon-acquiring extracellular enzymes increased significantly (P < 0.05) with the addition of resources at the low- and moderate-salinity sites but not the high-salinity site. The bacterial community composition was altered, with an increase in Proteobacteria and Firmicutes with water and organic matter additions at the low- and moderate-salinity sites and a near dominance of Firmicutes at the high-salinity site. Principal coordinate analyses of all samples using a phylogenetically informed distance matrix (UniFrac) demonstrated discrete clustering among sites (analysis of similarity [ANOSIM], P < 0.05 and R > 0.40) and among most treatments within sites. The results from this experimental work suggest that microbial communities in this environment will undergo rapid change in response to the altered resources resulting from climate change impacts occurring in this region.}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1128/AEM.03414-13}, author = {David J. Van Horn and Okie, J.G. and Heather N. Buelow and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {3206, title = {Spring thaw ionic pulses boost nutrient availability and microbial growth in entombed Antarctic Dry Valley cryoconite holes}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {5}, year = {2014}, month = {12/2014}, abstract = {

The seasonal melting of ice entombed cryoconite holes on McMurdo Dry Valley glaciers provides oases for life in the harsh environmental conditions of the polar desert where surface air temperatures only occasionally exceed 0\°C during the Austral summer. Here we follow temporal changes in cryoconite hole biogeochemistry on Canada Glacier from fully frozen conditions through the initial stages of spring thaw toward fully melted holes. The cryoconite holes had a mean isolation age from the glacial drainage system of 3.4 years, with an increasing mass of aqueous nutrients (dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus) with longer isolation age. During the initial melt there was a mean nine times enrichment in dissolved chloride relative to mean concentrations of the initial frozen holes indicative of an ionic pulse, with similar mean nine times enrichments in nitrite, ammonium, and dissolved organic matter. Nitrate was enriched twelve times and dissolved organic nitrogen six times, suggesting net nitrification, while lower enrichments for dissolved organic phosphorus and phosphate were consistent with net microbial phosphorus uptake. Rates of bacterial production were significantly elevated during the ionic pulse, likely due to the increased nutrient availability. There was no concomitant increase in photosynthesis rates, with a net depletion of dissolved inorganic carbon suggesting inorganic carbon limitation. Potential nitrogen fixation was detected in fully melted holes where it could be an important source of nitrogen to support microbial growth, but not during the ionic pulse where nitrogen availability was higher. This study demonstrates that ionic pulses significantly alter the timing and magnitude of microbial activity within entombed cryoconite holes, and adds credence to hypotheses that ionic enrichments during freeze-thaw can elevate rates of microbial growth and activity in other icy habitats, such as ice veins and subglacial regelation zones

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2014.00694}, url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00694/abstract}, author = {Telling, J. and Alexandre M. Anesio and Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Thomas H. Nylen and Hawkings, Jon and Singh, Virendra B. and Kaur, Preeti and Musilova, Michaela and Wadham, J. L.} } @article {3217, title = {Antarctic Thresholds - Ecosystem Resilience and Adaptation (AnT-ERA), a new SCAR-biology programme}, journal = {Polarforschung}, volume = {82}, year = {2013}, month = {10/2013}, pages = {147-150.}, chapter = {147}, abstract = {

Stresses on Antarctic ecosystems result from environmental change, including extreme events, and from (other) human impacts. Consequently, Antarctic habitats are changing, some at a rapid pace while others are relatively stable. A cascade of responses from molecular through organismic to the community level are expected. The differences in biological complexity and evolutionary histories between both polar regions and the rest of the planet suggest that stresses on polar ecosystem function may have fundamentally different outcomes from those at lower latitudes. Polar ecosystem processes are therefore key to informing wider ecological debate about the nature of stability and potential changes across the biosphere. The main goal of AnT-ERA is to facilitate the science required to examine changes in biological processes in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine-, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Tolerance limits, as well as thresholds, resistance and resilience to environmental change will be determined. AnT-ERA is classified into three overlapping themes, which represent three levels of biological organisation: (1) molecular and physiological performance, (2) population processes and species traits, (3) ecosystem function and services.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, url = {http://epic.awi.de/34238/1/Polarforschung_82-2_147-150.pdf}, author = {Gutt, J. and Byron Adams and T Bracegirdle and Cowan, D. and Vonda Cummings and di Prisco, G. and Gradinger, R. and Isla, E. and McIntyre, T. and Murphy, E and Lloyd S. Peck and I.R. Schloss and Smith, C. and Suckling, C. C. and Takahashi, A. and Diana H. Wall and J.C. Xavier} } @article {1082, title = {Do Cryoconite Holes have the Potential to be Significant Sources of C, N, and P to Downstream Depauperate Ecosystems of Taylor Valley, Antarctica?}, journal = {Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {11/2013}, pages = {440 - 454}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1657/1938-4246-45.4.440}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Kathleen A. Welch and Hassan J. Basagic and W. Berry Lyons} } @article {1084, title = {Environmental controls over bacterial communities in polar desert soils}, journal = {Ecosphere}, volume = {4}, year = {2013}, month = {10/2013}, pages = {art127}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1890/ES13-00048.1}, author = {Kevin M. Geyer and Adam E. Altrichter and David J. Van Horn and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett} } @article {1079, title = {Environmental factors influencing diatom communities in Antarctic cryoconite holes}, journal = {Environmental Research Letters}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {12/2013}, pages = {045006}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045006}, url = {http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/4/045006/pdf/1748-9326_8_4_045006.pdf}, author = {Lee F. Stanish and Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Diane M. McKnight and Andrew G Fountain and Martyn Tranter} } @article {1092, title = {Factors Controlling Soil Microbial Biomass and Bacterial Diversity and Community Composition in a Cold Desert Ecosystem: Role of Geographic Scale}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {06/2013}, pages = {e66103}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0066103.s003}, url = {http://www.plosone.org/article/info\%3Adoi\%2F10.1371\%2Fjournal.pone.0066103}, author = {David J. Van Horn and Van Horn, M. Lee and John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Adam E. Altrichter and Kevin M. Geyer and Lydia H. Zeglin and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1075, title = {The Life Cycle of the Antarctic Nematode Plectus murrayi Under Laboratory Conditions.}, journal = {Journal of nematology}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Mar}, pages = {39-42}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3625130/}, author = {Cecilia M. Tomasel and Byron Adams and Fernando G. Tomasel and Diana H. Wall} } @article {1080, title = {Micro-hole and multigrain quartz luminescence dating of Paleodeltas at Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica), and relevance for lake history}, journal = {Quaternary Geochronology}, volume = {18}, year = {2013}, month = {12/2013}, pages = {119 - 134}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1016/j.quageo.2013.04.002}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871101413000423}, author = {G. W. Berger and Peter T. Doran and Thomsen, K.J.} } @article {1089, title = {Seasonal controls on snow distribution and aerial ablation at the snow-patch and landscape scales, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {The Cryosphere}, volume = {7}, year = {2013}, month = {09/2013}, pages = {917 - 931}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.5194/tc-7-917-2013}, url = {http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/917/2013/tc-7-917-2013.html}, author = {Eveland, Jeffery and Michael N. Gooseff and Lampkin, Derrick J. and John E. Barrett and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1090, title = {Spatial and temporal patterns of snow accumulation and aerial ablation across the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Hydrological Processes}, volume = {27}, year = {2013}, month = {09/2013}, pages = {2864 - 2875}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1002/hyp.9407}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.9407/pdf}, author = {Eveland, Jeffery and Michael N. Gooseff and Lampkin, Derrick J. and John E. Barrett and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {3534, title = {At Limits of Life: Multidisciplinary Insights Reveal Environmental Constraints on Biotic Diversity in Continental Antarctica}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {7}, year = {2012}, month = {Jul-09-2013}, pages = {e44578}, abstract = {

Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80\°S). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in terms of trophic level diversity, were related to the weakly developed younger drifts (Hatherton and Britannia) with higher soil C/N ratio and lower total soluble salts content (thus lower conductivity). Our results indicate that an increase of ion concentration from younger to older drift regions drives a succession of complex to more simple communities, in terms of number of trophic levels and diversity within each group of organisms analysed. This study revealed that integrating diversity across multi-trophic levels of biotic communities with abiotic spatial heterogeneity and geological history is fundamental to understand environmental constraints influencing biological distribution in Antarctic soil ecosystems.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0044578}, url = {http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044578}, author = {Magalhaes, Catarina and Stevens, Mark I. and Craig S Cary and Ball, Becky and Storey, Bryan C. and Diana H. Wall and T{\"u}rk, Roman and Ruprecht, Ulrike}, editor = {de Bello, Francesco} } @article {3535, title = {Challenges to the Future Conservation of the Antarctic}, journal = {Science}, volume = {337}, year = {2012}, month = {Jan-07-2013}, pages = {158 - 159}, abstract = {

The Antarctic Treaty System, acknowledged as a successful model of cooperative regulation of one of the globe\&$\#$39;s largest commons (1), is under substantial pressure. Concerns have been raised about increased stress on Antarctic systems from global environmental change and growing interest in the region\&$\#$39;s resources (2,\ 3). Although policy-makers may recognize these challenges, failure to respond in a timely way can have substantial negative consequences. We provide a horizon scan, a systematic means for identifying emerging trends and assisting decision-makers in identifying policies that address future challenges (2,\ 3). Previous analyses of conservation threats in the Antarctic have been restricted to matters for which available evidence is compelling (4). We reconsider these concerns because they might escalate quickly, judging from recent rapid environmental change in parts of Antarctica and increasing human interest in the region (see the map). We then focus on a more distant time horizon.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.1222821}, url = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.1222821}, author = {Steven L. Chown and Lee, J. E. and Hughes, K. A. and Barnes, J. and Barrett, P.J. and D.M. Bergstrom and Convey, P. and Cowan, Don A. and Crosbie, K. and Dyer, G. and Frenot, Y. and Grant, S. M. and Herr, D. and Kennicutt, M. C. and Lamers, M. and Murray, A. and Possingham, H. P. and Reid, K. and Riddle, M. J. and Ryan, P. G. and Sanson, L. and Shaw, J. D. and Sparrow, M.D. and Summerhayes, C. and Terauds, A. and Diana H. Wall} } @article {1113, title = {Microbial dynamics and flagellate grazing during transition to winter in Lakes Hoare and Bonney, Antarctica}, journal = {FEMS Microbiology Ecology}, volume = {82}, year = {2012}, month = {11/2012}, pages = {449 - 458}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/j.1574-6941.2012.01423.x}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2012.01423.x/full}, author = {Jill Thurman and Jacqueline Parry and Philip J. Hill and John C. Priscu and Trista J. Vick-Majors and Amy Chiuchiolo and Johanna Laybourn-Parry} } @article {3528, title = {Microbial life at -13 ~C in the brine of an ice-sealed Antarctic lake}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, volume = {109}, year = {2012}, month = {12/2012}, pages = {20626 - 20631}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0027-8424}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1208607109}, url = {http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1208607109}, author = {A. E. Murray and Kenig, Fabien and Christian H. Fritsen and Christopher P. McKay and Kaelin M. Cawley and R. L. Edwards and Kuhn, Emanuele and Diane M. McKnight and Nathaniel E Ostrom and Vivian Peng and Adrian Ponce and John C. Priscu and Samarkin, Vladimir A. and Ashley T Townsend and Protima Wagh and Seth A Young and Pung To Yung and Peter T. Doran} } @article {1128, title = {Bacterial Community Structure Along Moisture Gradients in the Parafluvial Sediments of Two Ephemeral Desert Streams}, journal = {Microbial Ecology}, volume = {61}, year = {2011}, month = {4/2011}, pages = {543 - 556}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1007/s00248-010-9782-7}, url = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/r83j53334v5n505w/}, author = {Lydia H. Zeglin and Clifford N. Dahm and John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Shannon K. Fitpatrick and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1140, title = {Determination of Dissolved Oxygen in the Cryosphere: A Comprehensive Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Fiber Optic Sensors}, journal = {Environmental Science \& Technology}, volume = {45}, year = {2011}, month = {01/2011}, pages = {700 - 705}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1021/es102571j}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Wadham, J. L. and Mowlem, M. and Martyn Tranter and Eveness, J. and Andrew G Fountain and Telling, J.} } @article {1137, title = {High-resolution monitoring reveals dissolved oxygen dynamics in an Antarctic cryoconite hole}, journal = {Hydrological Processes}, volume = {25}, year = {2011}, month = {08/2011}, pages = {2868 - 2877}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1002/hyp.8049}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Martyn Tranter and Wadham, J. L. and Andrew G Fountain and Mowlem, M.} } @article {1126, title = {Nematode communities of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, maritime Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Science}, volume = {23}, year = {2011}, month = {8/2011}, pages = {349 - 357}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1017/S0954102011000174}, author = {Uffe N. Nielsen and Diana H. Wall and Li, Grace and Toro, Manuel and Byron Adams and Ross A. Virginia} } @book {1146, title = {Spectral Methods to Advance Understanding of Dissolved Organic Carbon Dynamics in Forested Catchments}, series = {Ecological StudiesForest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry}, volume = {216}, year = {2011}, pages = {117 - 135}, publisher = {Springer Netherlands}, organization = {Springer Netherlands}, address = {Dordrecht}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, isbn = {978-94-007-1363-5}, doi = {10.1007/978-94-007-1363-5_6}, url = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/lv9365ml54192m29/}, author = {Rose M. Cory and Elizabeth W. Boyer and Diane M. McKnight}, editor = {Levia, Delphis F. and Carlyle-Moses, Darryl and Tanaka, Tadashi} } @article {1155, title = {The Antarctic Nematode Plectus murrayi: An Emerging Model to Study Multiple Stress Survival}, journal = {Cold Spring Harbor Protocols}, volume = {2010}, year = {2010}, month = {11/2010}, pages = {pdb.emo142 - pdb.emo142}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1101/pdb.emo142}, author = {Bishwo N. Adhikari and Cecilia M. Tomasel and Li, G and Diana H. Wall and Byron Adams} } @article {1150, title = {Biogeochemical weathering under ice: Size matters}, journal = {Global Biogeochemical Cycles}, volume = {24}, year = {2010}, month = {2010}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1029/2009GB003688}, author = {Wadham, J. L. and Martyn Tranter and Skidmore, M and Hodson, A. J. and John C. Priscu and W. Berry Lyons and Sharp, M. and Wynn, P. and Margaret S. Jackson} } @inbook {1169, title = {The biogeochemistry and hydrology of Dry Valley glaciers: is there life on Martian ice now?}, booktitle = {Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments}, year = {2010}, pages = {195-220}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, organization = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {Cambridge}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Martyn Tranter and Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Andrew G Fountain and Forman, C.} } @article {1156, title = {Culturing the Antarctic Nematode Plectus murrayi}, journal = {Cold Spring Harbor Protocols}, volume = {2010}, year = {2010}, month = {11/2010}, pages = {pdb.prot5522 - pdb.prot5522}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1101/pdb.prot5522}, url = {http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/content/2010/11/pdb.emo142.short}, author = {Bishwo N. Adhikari and Cecilia M. Tomasel and Li, G and Diana H. Wall and Byron Adams} } @article {1162, title = {Dynamic behaviour of supraglacial lakes on cold polar glaciers: Canada Glacier, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Glaciology}, volume = {56}, year = {2010}, month = {06/2010}, pages = {366 - 368}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3189/002214310791968449}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Martyn Tranter and Wadham, J. L. and Andrew G Fountain and Hassan J. Basagic} } @inbook {1171, title = {Factors promoting microbial diversity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys}, booktitle = {Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments: Astrobiological Analogues}, series = {Cambridge Astrobiology}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {221-257}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, organization = {Cambridge University Press}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, isbn = {9780521889193}, doi = {10.1017/CBO9780511712258.008}, url = {http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511712258\&cid=CBO9780511712258A015}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Lydia H. Zeglin and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and John C. Priscu} } @inbook {1172, title = {The legacy of aqueous environments on soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys: contexts for future exploration of martian soils}, booktitle = {Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {78 - 109}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, organization = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {Cambridge}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, isbn = {9780521889193}, doi = {10.1017/CBO9780511712258.003}, url = {http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511712258\&cid=CBO9780511712258A010}, author = {John E. Barrett and Poage, M and Michael N. Gooseff and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @book {1173, title = {Life in Antarctic Deserts and Other Cold Environments}, series = {Astrobiological Analogs}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {307}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press.}, organization = {Cambridge University Press.}, address = {Cambridge}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Planetary Science}, isbn = {9780511712258}, doi = {10.1017/CBO9780511712258}, url = {http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511712258}, author = {Peter T. Doran and W. Berry Lyons and Diane M. McKnight}, editor = {Diane M. McKnight and Michael N. Gooseff and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Jill A. Mikucki and Martyn Tranter and Sun, Henry J} } @article {1153, title = {Single-grain and multigrain luminescence dating of on-ice and lake-bottom deposits at Lake Hoare, Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, journal = {Quaternary Geochronology}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, month = {12/2010}, pages = {679 - 690}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1016/j.quageo.2010.05.003}, author = {G. W. Berger and Peter T. Doran and Thomsen, K.J.} } @article {1184, title = {A Contemporary Microbially Maintained Subglacial Ferrous "Ocean"}, journal = {Science}, volume = {324}, year = {2009}, month = {04/2009}, pages = {397-400}, type = {Journal}, abstract = {

An active microbial assemblage cycles sulfur in a sulfate-rich, ancient marine brine beneath Taylor Glacier, an outlet glacier of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, with Fe(III) serving as the terminal electron acceptor. Isotopic measurements of sulfate, water, carbonate, and ferrous iron and functional gene analyses of adenosine 5\′-phosphosulfate reductase imply that a microbial consortium facilitates a catalytic sulfur cycle. These metabolic pathways result from a limited organic carbon supply because of the absence of contemporary photosynthesis, yielding a subglacial ferrous brine that is anoxic but not sulfidic. Coupled biogeochemical processes below the glacier enable subglacial microbes to grow in extended isolation, demonstrating how analogous organic-starved systems, such as Neoproterozoic oceans, accumulated Fe(II) despite the presence of an active sulfur cycle.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Biggie}, doi = {10.1126/science.1167350}, url = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5925/397.short}, author = {Jill A. Mikucki and Pearson, A and Johnston, D and Turchyn, A and Farquhar, J and Schrag, D and Anbar, A and John C. Priscu and Lee, P} } @article {1186, title = {Hydrologic characteristics of lake- and stream-side riparian wetted margins in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Hydrological Processes}, volume = {23}, year = {2009}, pages = {1255-1267}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Northcott, M and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Lydia H. Zeglin and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Humphrey, J} } @article {1181, title = {Lakes and reservoirs as regulators of carbon cycling and climate}, journal = {Limnology and Oceanography}, volume = {54 part 2}, year = {2009}, month = {11/2009}, pages = {2298{\textendash}2314}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2298}, url = {http://aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_54/issue_6_part_2/2298.pdf}, author = {Lars J. Tranvik and John A. Downing and James B. Cotner and Steven A. Loiselle and Robert G. Striegl and Thomas J. Ballatore and Peter Dillon and Kerri Finlay and Kenneth Fortino and Lesley B. Knoll and Pirkko L. Kortelainen and Tiit Kutser and Soren Larsen and Isabelle Laurion and Dina M. Leech and S. Leigh McCallister and Diane M. McKnight and John M. Melack and Erin Overholt and Jason A. Porter and Yves Prairie and William H. Renwick and Fabio Roland and Bradford S. Sherman and David W. Schindler and Sebastian Sobek and Alain Tremblay and Michael J. Vanni and Antonie M. Verschoor and Eddie von Wachenfeldt and Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer} } @article {1189, title = {Landscape Distribution of Microbial Activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys: Linked Biotic Processes, Hydrology, and Geochemistry in a Cold Desert Ecosystem}, journal = {Ecosystems}, volume = {12}, year = {2009}, pages = {562-573}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Lydia H. Zeglin and Sinsabaugh, R and John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1193, title = {Spatial variation in soil active-layer geochemistry across hydrologic margins in polar desert ecosystems.}, journal = {Hydrology and Earth System Sciences}, volume = {13}, year = {2009}, pages = {2349-2358}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {John E. Barrett and Michael N. Gooseff and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1194, title = {State of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean climate system,}, journal = {Review of Geophysics}, volume = {47}, year = {2009}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Paul A. Mayewski and David Bromwich and Campbell, H and Hamilton, G and W. Berry Lyons and Maasch, K and Aoki, S and Xiao, C and van Ommen, T and Meredith, M and Summerhayes, C and Turner, J and Worby, A and John E. Barrett and Casassa, G and Bertler, N and T Bracegirdle} } @article {1196, title = {Thermal Characterisation of Active Layer Across a Soil Moisture Gradient in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Permafrost and Periglacial Processes}, volume = {20}, year = {2009}, pages = {27-39}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1002/ppp.634}, author = {Ikard, S and Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @inbook {1206, title = {Antarctic subglacial water: origin, evolution, and ecology}, booktitle = {Polar Lakes and Rivers: Limnology of Arctic and Antarctic Aquatic Ecosystems}, year = {2008}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, organization = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {John C. Priscu and Tulaczyk, S and Studinger, M and Kenicutt, M and Brent C. Christner and Christine M. Foreman} } @inbook {1207, title = {Bacteria in Subglacial Environments}, booktitle = {Psychrophiles: from biodiversity to biotechnology}, year = {2008}, pages = {51-71}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, organization = {Springer Verlag}, address = {New York}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Brent C. Christner and Skidmore, M and John C. Priscu and Martyn Tranter and Christine M. Foreman} } @phdthesis {1228, title = {The Biogeochemistry of Cryoconite Holes on Glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, year = {2008}, school = {University of Bristol, UK}, type = {doctoral}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth} } @inbook {1213, title = {Glacial ecosystems}, booktitle = {Ecological Monographs}, volume = {78}, year = {2008}, pages = {41-67}, edition = {1}, abstract = {
There is now compelling evidence that microbially mediated reactions impart a significant effect upon the dynamics, composition, and abundance of nutrients in glacial melt water. Consequently, we must now consider ice masses as ecosystem habitats in their own right and address their diversity, functional potential, and activity as part of alpine and polar environments. Although such research is already underway, its fragmentary nature provides little basis for developing modern concepts of glacier ecology. This paper therefore provides a much-needed framework for development by reviewing the physical, biogeochemical, and microbiological characteristics of microbial habitats that have been identified within glaciers and ice sheets. Two key glacial ecosystems emerge, one inhabiting the glacier surface (the supraglacial ecosystem) and one at the ice-bed interface (the subglacial ecosystem). The supraglacial ecosystem is characterized by a diverse consortium of microbes (usually bacteria, algae, phytoflagellates, fungi, viruses and occasional rotifers, tardigrades, and diatoms) within the snowpack, supraglacial streams, and melt pools (cryoconite holes). The subglacial system is dominated by aerobic/anaerobic bacteria and most probably viruses in basal ice/till mixtures and subglacial lakes. A third, so-called englacial ecosystem is also described, but it is demonstrated that conditions within glacier ice are sufficient to make metabolic activity and its impact upon nutrient dynamics negligible at the glacier scale.
Consideration of the surface and internal heat balances of the glacier show that all glacial ecosystems are sensitive to climate change, although at different timescales. Thus, while rapid, melt-driven habitat changes lead to melt-out, resuscitation, and redistribution of microorganisms in many supraglacial ecosystems, much slower climatic and glacial mass-balance processes effect such changes in the subglacial ecosystem. Paradoxically, it is shown that these forces have brought about net refreezing and the onset of cryostasis in the subglacial ecosystems of many Arctic glaciers subject to thinning in recent decades.
}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Biggie, snow ecology}, doi = {10.1890/07-0187.1}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/07-0187.1}, author = {Hodson, A and Alexandre M. Anesio and Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Osborn, M and John C. Priscu and Johanna Laybourn-Parry and Sattler, B} } @article {1202, title = {Global decomposition experiment shows soil animal impacts on decomposition are climate dependent}, journal = {Global Change Biology}, volume = {14}, year = {2008}, month = {11/2008}, pages = {2661-2677}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01672.x}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01672.x/full}, author = {Diana H. Wall and Mark A. Bradford and Mark G. StJohn and John A. Trofymow and Valerie Behan-Pelletier and David E. Bignell and J. Mark Dangerfield and William J. Parton and Josef Rusek and Winfried Voigt and Volkmar Wolters and Holley Zadeh Gardel and Fred O. Ayuke and Richard Bashford and Olga I. Beljakova and Patrick J. Bohlen and Alain Brauman and Stephen Flemming and Joh R. Henschel and Dan L. Johnson and T. Hefin Jones and Marcela Kovarova and J. Marty Kranabetter and Les Kutny and Kuo-Chuan Lin and Mohamed Maryati and Dominique Masse and Andrei Pokarzhevskii and Homathevi Rahman and Millor G. Sabara and Joerg-Alfred Salamon and Michael J. Swift and Amanda Varela and Heraldo L. Vasconcelos and Don White and Xiaming Zou} } @article {1217, title = {Introduction - The Biogeochemistry of Cryoconite Holes}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research}, volume = {113}, year = {2008}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1029/2008JG000698}, author = {Andrew G Fountain and Martyn Tranter} } @phdthesis {1219, title = {Microbial diversity and function at aquatic- terrestrial interfaces in desert ecosystems.}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2008}, school = {University of New Mexico}, type = {doctoral}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Lydia H. Zeglin} } @article {1224, title = {Stoichiometry of soil enzyme activity at global scale.}, journal = {Ecology Letters}, volume = {11}, year = {2008}, pages = {1252-1264}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Sinsabaugh, R and Gallo, M and Gartner, T and Hobbie, S and Holland, K and Keeler, B and Powers, J and Stursova, M and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Waldrop, M and Wallenstein, M and Lauber, M and Zak, D and Lydia H. Zeglin and Weintraub, M and Ahmed, B and Allison, S and Crenshaw, C and Contosta, A and Cusack, D and Frey, S} } @article {1227, title = {Temporal variations in physical and chemical features of cryoconite holes on Canada Glacier, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research}, volume = {113}, year = {2008}, pages = {G01S92}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1029/2008JG000698}, author = {Andrew G Fountain and Thomas H. Nylen and Martyn Tranter and Bagshaw, Elizabeth} } @article {1239, title = {The biogeochemical evolution of cryoconite holes on glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research}, volume = {113}, year = {2007}, pages = {G04S35}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Bagshaw, Elizabeth and Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Kathleen A. Welch and Hassan J. Basagic and W. Berry Lyons} } @article {1240, title = {Controls on the spatial dimensions of wetted hydrologic margins of two antarctic lakes}, journal = {Vadose Zone Journal}, volume = {6}, year = {2007}, pages = {841-848}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.2136/​vzj2006.0161}, author = {Michael N. Gooseff and John E. Barrett and Melissa L. Northcott and D. Brad Bate and Kenneth R. Hill and Lydia H. Zeglin and Bobb, M and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1254, title = {A mathematical model for variation in water-retention curves among sandy soils}, journal = {Antarctic Science}, volume = {19}, year = {2007}, pages = {427-436}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Hunt , H and Amy M Treonis and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {1235, title = {Reactivation of a cryptobiotic stream ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: A long-term geomorphological experiment}, journal = {Geomorphology}, volume = {89}, year = {2007}, month = {09/2007}, pages = {186-204}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.07.025}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Cathy M. Tate and Edmund D. Andrews and Dev K. Niyogi and Cozzetto, K and Kathleen A. Welch and W. Berry Lyons and D. G. Capone} } @proceedings {1251, title = {Trends in discharge and flow season timing of the Onyx River, Wright Valley, Antarctica since 1969}, journal = {Antarctica; A keystone in a changing world--online proceedings for the tenth international symposium}, year = {2007}, publisher = {U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1047}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Michael N. Gooseff and Diane M. McKnight and Peter T. Doran and W. Berry Lyons}, editor = {Alan Cooper and Carol Raymond and ISAES Editorial Team} } @thesis {1276, title = {Spatial Patterns of Bacterial Diversity in Cold Desert Riparian Zones.}, volume = {B.S.}, year = {2006}, school = {University of New Mexico}, type = {bachelors}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Bobb, M} } @article {1292, title = {The chemical composition of runoff from Canada Glacier, Antarctica: implications for glacier hydrology during a cool summer}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, volume = {40}, year = {2005}, pages = {15-19}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and W. Berry Lyons and Thomas H. Nylen and Kathleen A. Welch} } @article {1297, title = {The Geochemistry of Supraglacial Streams of Canada Glacier, Taylor Valley (Antarctica), and their Evolution into Proglacial Waters}, journal = {Aquatic Geochemistry}, volume = {11}, year = {2005}, pages = {391-412}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Sarah Fortner and Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch} } @article {1299, title = {Groundwater seeps in Taylor Valley Antarctica: An example of a subsurface melt event}, journal = {Annals of Glaciology}, volume = {40}, year = {2005}, pages = {200-206}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch and Anne E. Carey and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia and Andrew G Fountain and Peter T. Doran and Csatho, B and Tremper, C} } @article {1313, title = {Invertebrate diversity in Taylor Valley soils and sediments}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States}, volume = {33}, year = {2005}, pages = {13-16}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Amy M Treonis and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {1305, title = {Perturbation of hydrochemical conditions in natural microcosms entombed within Antarctic ice}, journal = {Ice and Climate News}, volume = {6}, year = {2005}, pages = {22-23}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Christian H. Fritsen and W. Berry Lyons and John C. Priscu and Stratham, P and Kathleen A. Welch} } @inbook {1306, title = {Polar lakes, streams, and springs as analogs for the hydrological cycle on Mars.}, booktitle = {Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics}, year = {2005}, pages = {219-233}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, organization = {Springer Verlag}, address = {Berlin, Heidelberg}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, url = {/reports/lakes/McKayEtAl2005StreamsSprings.pdf}, author = {Christopher P. McKay and Dale T. Andersen and Pollard, W and Heldmann, J and Peter T. Doran and Christian H. Fritsen and John C. Priscu} } @article {1323, title = {The Biodiversity and Biogeochemistry of Cryoconite Holes from McMurdo Dry Valley Glaciers, Antarctica}, journal = {Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research}, volume = {36}, year = {2004}, pages = {84-91}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Porazinska, D and Andrew G Fountain and Thomas H. Nylen and Martyn Tranter and Ross A. Virginia and Diana H. Wall} } @article {1327, title = {Cryoconite holes on polar glaciers and their importance for meltwater runoff}, journal = {Journal of Glaciology}, volume = {50}, year = {2004}, pages = {25-45}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Andrew G Fountain and Martyn Tranter and Thomas H. Nylen and Booth, D and Karen J. Lewis} } @article {1330, title = {Elevated levels of dimethylated-sulfur compounds in Lake Bonney, a poorly ventilated Antarctic lake}, journal = {Limnology and Oceanography}, volume = {49}, year = {2004}, pages = {1044-1055}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Lee, P and John C. Priscu and G R DiTullio and Riseman, S and Tursich, N and DeMora, S} } @article {1321, title = {Evolution of cryoconite holes and their contribution to meltwater runoff from glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Glaciology}, volume = {50}, year = {2004}, month = {01/2004}, pages = {35-45}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.3189/172756504781830312}, author = {Andrew G Fountain and Martyn Tranter and Thomas H. Nylen and Karen J. Lewis and Derek R. Mueller} } @article {1331, title = {Extreme hydrochemical conditions in natural microcosms entombed within Antarctic ice.}, journal = {Hydrological Processes}, volume = {18}, year = {2004}, pages = {379-387}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Martyn Tranter and Andrew G Fountain and Christian H. Fritsen and W. Berry Lyons and John C. Priscu and Stathan, P and Kathleen A. Welch} } @article {1335, title = {Inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics of Antarctic glacial meltwater streams as controlled by hyporheic exchange and benthic autotrophic communities}, journal = {Journal of the North American Benthological Society}, volume = {23}, year = {2004}, pages = {171-188}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Robert L. Runkel and John H. Duff and Cathy M. Tate and Daryl L. Moorhead} } @article {1370, title = {Long-term perspectives on biodiversity-ecosystem function.}, journal = {Bioscience}, year = {2003}, pages = {89-98}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Symstad, A and Chapin III, F and Diana H. Wall and Gross, K and Huenneke, L and Mittelbach, G and Debra P. C. Peters and Tilman, D} } @mastersthesis {1367, title = {Spatial and temporal variations of phytoplankton populations in Lake Bonney}, volume = {M.S.}, year = {2003}, school = {Montana State University}, type = {masters}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Turish, N} } @article {1368, title = {Strontium isotopic signatures of the streams and lakes of Taylor Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: chemical weathering in a polar climate}, journal = {Aquatic Geochemistry}, volume = {8}, year = {2003}, pages = {875-895}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and C. A. Nezat and Benson, L and Bullen, T and Graham, E and Kidd, J and Kathleen A. Welch and Thomas, J} } @mastersthesis {1387, title = {The chemical evolution of Canada Glacier melt: supraglacial and proglacial waters in Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, volume = {M.S.}, year = {2002}, school = {The Ohio State University}, type = {masters}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Tegt, S} } @article {1389, title = {Field and microcosm studies of decomposition and soil biota in a cold dessert soil}, journal = {Ecosystems}, volume = {5}, year = {2002}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Amy M Treonis and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {1398, title = {Bacterial dissolved organic carbon demand in antarctic dry valley lakes}, journal = {Limnology and Oceanography}, volume = {46}, year = {2001}, month = {07/2001}, pages = {1189-1194}, type = {Journal}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Biggie}, doi = {10.4319/lo.2001.46.5.1189}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2671031}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and John C. Priscu and Diane M. McKnight} } @article {1404, title = {The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research Program: new understanding of the biogeochemistry of the Dry Valley lakes: a review.}, journal = {Polar Geography}, volume = {25}, year = {2001}, pages = {202-217}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch and John C. Priscu and Johanna Laybourn-Parry and Daryl L. Moorhead and Diane M. McKnight and Peter T. Doran and Martyn Tranter} } @article {1405, title = {Mineralogical and geochemical analyses of Antarctic lake sediments: A study of reflectanceand Mossbauer spectroscopy and C, N and S isotopes with applications for remote sensing on Mars}, journal = {Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta}, volume = {65}, year = {2001}, pages = {2875-2897}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Bishop, Janice L. and Lougear, A and Newton, J and Peter T. Doran and Froeschl, H and Krner, W and Koeberl, C and Trautwein, A} } @article {1431, title = {Global change effects on above and below ground biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems: interactions and implications for ecosystem functioning}, journal = {Bioscience}, volume = {50}, year = {2000}, pages = {1089-1099}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {LTER}, author = {Wolters, V and Wardle, D and Brussaard, L and J. Mark Dangerfield and Brown, V and Giller, K and Hooper, D and Osvaldo E. Sala and Tiedje, J and van Veen, J and Silver, W and Bignell, D and David C. Coleman and Lavelle, P and van der Putten, W and DeRuiter, P and Josef Rusek and Diana H. Wall} } @article {1433, title = {Interactions between above and belowground biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems: patterns, mechanisms and feedbacks}, journal = {BioScience}, volume = {50}, year = {2000}, pages = {1049-1061}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Hooper, D and Lavelle, P and van der Putten, W and DeRuiter, P and Josef Rusek and Silver, W and Tiedje, J and Wolters, V and Bignell, D and Brown, V and Brussaard, L and J. Mark Dangerfield and Diana H. Wall and Wardle, D and David C. Coleman and Giller, K} } @article {1442, title = {Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence diversity in the Antarctic nematode Scottnema lindsayae}, journal = {Journal of Nematology}, volume = {322}, year = {2000}, pages = {143-153}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Courtright, E and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia and Vida, J and Frisse, L and Thomas, W} } @article {1422, title = {Phytoplankton dynamics in a stably stratified Antarctic lake during winter darkness}, journal = {Journal of Phycology}, volume = {36}, year = {2000}, month = {10/2000}, pages = {852-861}, type = {Journal}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Biggie, winter}, doi = {10.1046/j.1529-8817.2000.00031.x}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and B. L. Howes and C. D. Taylor and D. D. Goehringer} } @inbook {1438, title = {Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning}, booktitle = {Biological Resource Management. Connecting Science and Policy}, year = {2000}, pages = {283-290}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diana H. Wall and J.M. Lynch}, editor = {E. Balazs and E. Galante and J.M. Lynch and J.S. Schepers} } @article {1423, title = {The use of anhydrobiosis by soil nematodes in the Antarctic Dry Valleys}, journal = {Functional Ecology}, volume = {14}, year = {2000}, month = {08/2000}, pages = {460-467}, type = {Journal}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Biggie, survival strategies}, doi = {10.1046/j.1365-2435.2000.00442.x}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2000.00442.x/full}, author = {Amy M Treonis and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {1450, title = {Carbon transformations in a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake}, year = {1999}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {John C. Priscu and Craig F. Wolf and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Christian H. Fritsen and Johanna Laybourn-Parry and Emily C. Roberts and Birgit Sattl} } @article {1456, title = {Dry Valley streams in Antarctica: ecosystems waiting for water}, journal = {Bioscience}, volume = {49}, year = {1999}, pages = {985-995}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Dev K. Niyogi and Alexander S. Alger and Bomblies, Arne and Peter A. Conovitz and Cathy M. Tate} } @phdthesis {1478, title = {Environmental controls of the diversity, activity, and function of soil nematodes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctic}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {1999}, school = {Colorado State University}, type = {doctoral}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Amy M Treonis} } @phdthesis {1458, title = {Factors Affecting the Distribution and Dynamics of Bacterioplankton Biomass and Diversity in Taylor Valley Lakes, Antarctica}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {1999}, school = {Montana State University}, type = {doctoral}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach} } @article {1459, title = {Geomicrobiology of sub-glacial ice above Vostok Station}, journal = {Science}, volume = {286}, year = {1999}, pages = {2141-2144}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1126/science.286.5447.2141}, author = {John C. Priscu and Edward E. Adams and W. Berry Lyons and Mary A. Voytek and David W. Mogk and Robert L. Brown and Christopher P. McKay and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Kathleen A. Welch and Craig F. Wolf and Julie D. Kirshtein and Recep Avci} } @article {1463, title = {Invertebrate biodiversity in Antarctic Dry Valley soils and sediments}, journal = {Ecosystems}, volume = {2}, year = {1999}, pages = {482-492}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Amy M Treonis and Diana H. Wall and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {1487, title = {Bacterioplankton dynamics in the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica: Production and biomass loss over four seasons}, journal = {Microbial Ecology}, volume = {36}, year = {1998}, pages = {239-250}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and John C. Priscu} } @article {1496, title = {Evidence of deep circulation in two perennially ice-covered Antarctic lakes}, journal = {Limnol. Oceanogr.}, volume = {43}, year = {1998}, pages = {625-635}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Scott W. Tyler and Peter G. Cook and Anya Z. Butt and James M. Thomas and Peter T. Doran and W. Berry Lyons} } @inbook {1499, title = {Geochemical Linkages Among Glaciers, Streams, and Lakes Within the Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, booktitle = {Ecosystem Processes in a Polar Desert: The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, volume = {72}, year = {1998}, pages = {77-92}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch and Klaus Neumann and Jeffrey K. Toxey and Robyn McArthur and Changela Williams and Diane M. McKnight and Daryl L. Moorhead} } @article {1503, title = {A late holocene dessication of Lake Hoare and Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Science}, volume = {10}, year = {1998}, pages = {247-256}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Scott W. Tyler and Robert A. Wharton Jr. and Diane M. McKnight and Bruce H. Vaughn} } @article {1504, title = {Longitudinal Patterns in Algal Abundance and Species Distribution in Meltwater Streams in Taylor Valley, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, in Ecosystem Processes in a Polar Desert: The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Research Series}, volume = {72}, year = {1998}, pages = {109-127}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Alexander S. Alger and Cathy M. Tate and Gordon H Shupe and Sarah A. Spaulding} } @article {1507, title = {McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Density-driven mixing in Lake Hoare?}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States - 1996 Review Issue (NSF 98-28)}, volume = {31}, year = {1998}, pages = {205}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch and Scott W. Tyler and Pankaj Sharma} } @article {1510, title = {McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Genetic diversity of soil nematodes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States - 1996 Review Issue (NSF 98-28)}, volume = {31}, year = {1998}, pages = {203-204}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Courtright, Ericha M and Diana W. Freckman and Ross A. Virginia and W. Kelley Thomas} } @article {1517, title = {Modeling Nitrogen Transformations in Dry Valley Streams, Antarctica, in Ecosystem Processes in a Polar Desert: The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Research Series}, volume = {72}, year = {1998}, pages = {141-151}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Daryl L. Moorhead and Diane M. McKnight and Cathy M. Tate} } @article {1528, title = {The role of phytoplankton extracellular release in bacterioplankton growth of Taylor Valley Lakes, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States - 1996 Review Issue (NSF 98-28)}, volume = {31}, year = {1998}, pages = {211-212}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and John C. Priscu} } @article {1546, title = {Canada Stream: a glacial meltwater stream in Taylor Valley, South Victoria Land, Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of the North American Benthological Society}, volume = {16}, year = {1997}, pages = {14-17}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Cathy M. Tate} } @inbook {1549, title = {Chemical weathering rates and reactions in the Lake Fryxell Basin, Taylor Valley : Comparison to temperate river basins}, booktitle = {Ecosystem Processes in Antarctic Ice-free Landscapes}, year = {1997}, pages = {147-154}, publisher = {Balkema Press, Rotterdam}, organization = {Balkema Press, Rotterdam}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {W. Berry Lyons and Kathleen A. Welch and C. A. Nezat and K. Crick and Jeffrey K. Toxey and J.A. Mastrine and Diane M. McKnight} } @inbook {1554, title = {Ecological processes in a cold desert ecosystem: the abundance and species distribution of algal mats in glacial meltwater streams in Taylor Valley}, booktitle = {Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research}, series = {Occasional Paper}, volume = {51}, year = {1997}, pages = {108 pp}, publisher = {University of Colorado}, organization = {University of Colorado}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, url = {http://instaar.colorado.edu/other/download/OP51-ECOLOGICAL-PROCESSES.pdf}, author = {Alexander S. Alger and Diane M. McKnight and Sarah A. Spaulding and Cathy M. Tate}, editor = {Gordon H Shupe and Kathleen A. Welch and R. L. Edwards and Edmund D. Andrews} } @inbook {1564, title = {Species composition and primary production of algal communities in Dry Valley streams in Antarctica: Examination of the functional role of biodiversity}, booktitle = {Ecosystem Processes in Antarctic Ice-free Landscapes}, year = {1997}, pages = {171-179}, publisher = {Balkema Press, Rotterdam}, organization = {Balkema Press, Rotterdam}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Dev K. Niyogi and Cathy M. Tate and Diane M. McKnight and John H. Duff and Alexander S. Alger} } @article {1568, title = {Bacterial growth in Antarctic lakes: The role of phytoplankton extracellular release}, journal = {Bacterial growth in Antarctic lakes: The role of phytoplankton extracellular}, year = {1996}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and John C. Priscu} } @article {1569, title = {Determination of major element chemistry in terrestrial waters from Antarctica by ion chromatography}, journal = {Journal of Chromatography A}, volume = {739}, year = {1996}, pages = {257-263}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Kathleen A. Welch and W. Berry Lyons and Graham, E and Klaus Neumann and James M. Thomas and D. Mikesell} } @article {1589, title = {McMurdo LTER: Algal mat distribution in glacial meltwater streams in Taylor Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States}, volume = {30}, year = {1995}, pages = {287-289}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Diane M. McKnight and Cathy M. Tate} } @article {1595, title = {McMurdo LTER: The surface-energy balance of the Canada Glacier, Taylor Valley}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the United States}, volume = {30}, year = {1995}, pages = {280-282}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Karen J. Lewis and Gayle L. Dana and Scott W. Tyler and Andrew G Fountain} } @article {1602, title = {Responses of bacterial growth to inorganic and organic nutrient enrichment in the lakes of the dry valleys, Antarctica}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the US}, volume = {30}, year = {1995}, pages = {303-305}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and John C. Priscu} } @article {1621, title = {McMurdo LTER: Using narrow band spectroradiometry to assess algal and moss communities in a dry valley stream}, journal = {Antarctic Journal of the U.S.}, volume = {29}, year = {1994}, pages = {232-234}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Gayle L. Dana and Cathy M. Tate and Sharon L. Dewey} }