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Response of sea-ice microbial communities to environmental disturbance: an in situ transplant experiment in the Antarctic
Citation
Martin, A and Anderson, MJ and Thorn, C and Davy, SK and Ryan, KG, Response of sea-ice microbial communities to environmental disturbance: an in situ transplant experiment in the Antarctic, Marine Ecology Progress Series , 424, (Mar) pp. 25-37. ISSN 1616-1599 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2011 Inter-Research
Abstract
Sea-ice microbial communities are integral to primary and secondary production in icecovered
regions of the Southern Ocean, but few studies have characterised the heterogeneity of
microbes within the ice or determined whether habitat variability influences community dynamics.
We examined the response of sea-ice microbes to key physicochemical variables by conducting an
18 d reciprocal transplant experiment within Antarctic fast-ice. A series of ice cores were extracted
from 2.6 m annual ice and reinserted upside down to expose resident microbial assemblages to significantly
different light, temperature and salinity regimes. The abundance and community composition
of bacteria, microalgae and protozoa was subsequently determined within 3 sections of each core
(top, middle and bottom) and compared with experimental controls. Results demonstrate that iceassociated
microbes are finely attuned to discrete microhabitats within the sea-ice matrix. Positive
growth and a shift in community composition was observed for microalgae moved from the top to the
bottom of the ice, but significant bleaching of photosynthetic pigments resulted in zero net growth for
bottom-ice communities exposed to the surface. Although bacteria may have been less vulnerable to
initial change in their microenvironment, there was no significant increase in the average abundance
of cells at either end of the flipped cores after 18 d, despite a presumed increase in algal-derived dissolved
organic matter. This suggests a significant lag in the response time of bacteria to available
growth substrates and a temporary ‘malfunction’ of the microbial loop.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Antarctica, Sea-ice,Microbes, DGGE, Transplant experiment, Microbial loop |
| Research Division: | Mathematical Sciences |
| Research Group: | Pure mathematics |
| Research Field: | Lie groups, harmonic and Fourier analysis |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
| Objective Group: | Terrestrial systems and management |
| Objective Field: | Terrestrial biodiversity |
| UTAS Author: | Martin, A (Dr Andrew Martin) |
| ID Code: | 78004 |
| Year Published: | 2011 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 19 |
| Deposited By: | IMAS Research and Education Centre |
| Deposited On: | 2012-06-12 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-11-25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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