@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 = {<p>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.</p>},
	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 {4713,
	title = {Blowin{\textquoteright} in the wind: Dispersal, structure, and metacommunity dynamics of aeolian diatoms in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica},
	journal = {Journal of Phycology},
	volume = {58},
	year = {2022},
	month = {02/2022},
	pages = {36-54},
	abstract = {<p>Diatom metacommunities are structured by environmental, historical, and spatial factors that are often attributed to organism dispersal. In the McMurdo Sound region (MSR) of Antarctica, wind connects aquatic habitats through delivery of inorganic and organic matter. We evaluated the dispersal of diatoms in aeolian material and its relation to the regional diatom metacommunity using light microscopy and 18S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. The concentration of diatoms ranged from 0 to 8.76 * 10<sup>6</sup> valves \&middot; g<sup>-1</sup> dry aeolian material. Up to 15\% of whole cells contained visible protoplasm, indicating that up to 3.43 * 10<sup>4</sup> potentially viable individuals could be dispersed in a year to a single 2 cm<sup>2</sup>\&nbsp;site. Diatom DNA and RNA was detected at each site, reinforcing the likelihood that we observed dispersal of viable diatoms. Of the 50 known morphospecies in the MSR, 72\% were identified from aeolian material using microscopy. Aeolian community composition varied primarily by site. Meanwhile, each aeolian community was comprised of morphospecies found in aquatic communities from the same lake basin. These results suggest that aeolian diatom dispersal in the MSR is spatially structured, is predominantly local, and connects local aquatic habitats via a shared species pool. Nonetheless, aeolian community structure was distinct from that of aquatic communities, indicating that intrahabitat dispersal and environmental filtering also underlie diatom metacommunity dynamics. The present study confirms that a large number of diatoms are passively dispersed by wind across a landscape characterized by aeolian processes, integrating the regional flora and contributing to metacommunity structure and landscape connectivity.</p>},
	keywords = {LTER-MCM, 18S rRNA, airborne, algae, assembly, Bacillariophyta, biogeography, connectivity, high-throughput sequencing},
	issn = {0022-3646},
	doi = {10.1111/jpy.13223},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpy.13223},
	author = {Schulte, Nicholas O. and Khan, Alia L. and Smith, Emma W. and Zoumplis, Angela and Kaul, Drishti and Allen, Andrew E. and Adams, Byron J. and Diane M. McKnight}
}
