Land Resources & Environmental Sciences
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/11
The Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State Universityoffers integrative, multi-disciplinary, science-based degree programs at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels.
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Item Biogeochemical Connectivity Between Freshwater Ecosystems beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Sub‐Ice Marine Environment(2020-03) Vick‐Majors, Trista J.; Michaud, Alexander B.; Skidmore, Mark L.; Turetta, Clara; Barbante, Carlo; Christner, Brent C.; Dore, John E.; Christianson, Knut; Mitchell, Andrew C.; Achberger, Amanda M.; Mikucki, Jill A.; Priscu, John C.Although subglacial aquatic environments are widespread beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, subglacial biogeochemistry is not well understood, and the contribution of subglacial water to coastal ocean carbon and nutrient cycling remains poorly constrained. The Whillans Subglacial Lake (SLW) ecosystem is upstream from West Antarctica's Gould‐Siple Coast ~800 m beneath the surface of the Whillans Ice Stream. SLW hosts an active microbial ecosystem and is part of an active hydrological system that drains into the marine cavity beneath the adjacent Ross Ice Shelf. Here we examine sources and sinks for organic matter in the lake and estimate the freshwater carbon and nutrient delivery from discharges into the coastal embayment. Fluorescence‐based characterization of dissolved organic matter revealed microbially driven differences between sediment pore waters and lake water, with an increasing contribution from relict humic‐like dissolved organic matter with sediment depth. Mass balance calculations indicated that the pool of dissolved organic carbon in the SLW water column could be produced in 4.8 to 11.9 yr, which is a time frame similar to that of the lakes’ fill‐drain cycle. Based on these estimates, subglacial lake water discharged at the Siple Coast could supply an average of 5,400% more than the heterotrophic carbon demand within Siple Coast embayments (6.5% for the entire Ross Ice Shelf cavity). Our results suggest that subglacial discharge represents a heretofore unappreciated source of microbially processed dissolved organic carbon and other nutrients to the Southern Ocean.Item Geomicrobiology of Blood Falls: An iron-rich saline discharge at terminus of the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica(2004-09) Mikucki, Jill A.; Foreman, Christine M.; Sattler, Birgit; Lyons, W. Berry; Priscu, John C.Blood Falls, a saline subglacial discharge from the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica provides an example of the diverse physical and chemical niches available for life in the polar desert of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Geochemical analysis of Blood Falls outflow resembles concentrated seawater remnant from the Pliocene intrusion of marine waters combined with products of weathering. The result is an iron-rich, salty seep at the terminus of Taylor Glacier, which is subject to episodic releases into permanently ice-covered Lake Bonney. Blood Falls influences the geochemistry of Lake Bonney, and provides organic carbon and viable microbes to the lakesystem. Here we present the first data on the geobiology of Blood Falls and relate it to the evolutionary history of this unique environment. The novel geological evolution of this subglacial environment makes Blood Falls an important site for the study of metabolic strategies in subglacial environments and the impact of subglacial efflux on associated lake ecosystems.Item Glacial ice cores: A model system for developing extraterrestrial decontamination protocols(2005-04) Christner, Brent C.; Mikucki, Jill A.; Foreman, Christine M.; Denson, Jackie; Priscu, John C.Evidence gathered from spacecraft orbiting Mars has shown that water ice exists at both poles and may form a large subsurface reservoir at lower latitudes. The recent exploration of the martian surface by unmanned landers and surface rovers, and the planned missions to eventually return samples to Earth have raised concerns regarding both forward and back contamination. Methods to search for life in these icy environments and adequate protocols to prevent contamination can be tested with earthly analogues. Studies of ice cores on Earth have established past climate changes and geological events, both globally and regionally, but only recently have these results been correlated with the biological materials (i.e., plant fragments, seeds, pollen grains, fungal spores, and microorganisms) that are entrapped and preserved within the ice. The inclusion of biology into ice coring research brings with it a whole new approach towards decontamination. Our investigations on ice from the Vostok core (Antarctica) have shown that the outer portion of the cores have up to 3 and 2 orders of magnitude higher bacterial density and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) than the inner portion of the cores, respectively, as a result of drilling and handling. The extreme gradients that exist between the outer and inner portion of these samples make contamination a very relevant aspect of geomicrobiological investigations with ice cores, particularly when the actual numbers of ambient bacterial cells are low. To address this issue and the inherent concern it raises for the integrity of future investigations with ice core materials from terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments, we employed a procedure to monitor the decontamination process in which ice core surfaces are painted with a solution containing a tracer microorganism, plasmid DNA, and fluorescent dye before sampling. Using this approach, a simple and direct method is proposed to verify the authenticity of geomicrobiological results obtained from ice core materials. Our protocol has important implications for the design of life detection experiments on Mars and the decontamination of samples that will eventually be returned to Earth.Item Metabolic activity and diversity of cyoconites in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica(2007-12) Foreman, Christine M.; Sattler, Birgit; Mikucki, Jill A.; Porazinska, D. L.; Priscu, John C.Metabolic activity and biogeochemical diversity within cryoconites from the Canada,Commonwealth, Howard, and Hughes glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys revealed the presence of a productive microbial refuge in this polar desert ecosystem. Fluorescent in situ hybridization showed a high percentage of Cytophaga-Flavobacteria cells in cryoconite sediments (87.2%), while β-Proteobacterial cells dominated the ice overlying the sediment layer (54.2%). The biomass of bacterial cells in the sediments was also greater (4.82 µgC ml-1) than that in the overlying ice (0.18 mgC ml-1) and was related to bacterial productivity (on the basis of thymidine incorporation), which ranged from 36 ng C l-1 d-1 in the overlying ice to 3329 ng C l-1 d -1 in the sediment-containing layers. Bacteria within both the sediments and overlying ice were able to actively incorporate and respire radio-labeled glucose, as well as 17 other dissolved organic carbon compounds. The cryoconites in the Taylor Valley support an active, diverse assemblage of organisms despite the fact that they may remain sealed from the atmosphere for decades. Given the density of the cryoconites in the dry valleys ( ~4–6% of ablation zone surfaces), flushing of the cryoconites during warm years could provide a vital nutrient and organic carbon source to the surrounding polar desert.Item Physiological Ecology of Microorganisms in Subglacial Lake Whillans(2016-10) Vick-Majors, Trista J.; Mitchell, Andrew C.; Achberger, Amanda M.; Christner, Brent C.; Dore, John E.; Michaud, Alexander B.; Mikucki, Jill A.; Purcell, Alicia M.; Skidmore, Mark L.; Priscu, John C.Subglacial microbial habitats are widespread in glaciated regions of our planet. Some of these environments have been isolated from the atmosphere and from sunlight for many thousands of years. Consequently, ecosystem processes must rely on energy gained from the oxidation of inorganic substrates or detrital organic matter. Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) is one of more than 400 subglacial lakes known to exist under the Antarctic ice sheet; however, little is known about microbial physiology and energetics in these systems. When it was sampled through its 800 m thick ice cover in 2013, the SLW water column was shallow (~2 m deep), oxygenated, and possessed sufficient concentrations of C, N, and P substrates to support microbial growth. Here, we use a combination of physiological assays and models to assess the energetics of microbial life in SLW. In general, SLW microorganisms grew slowly in this energy-limited environment. Heterotrophic cellular carbon turnover times, calculated from (3)H-thymidine and (3)H-leucine incorporation rates, were long (60 to 500 days) while cellular doubling times averaged 196 days. Inferred growth rates (average ~0.006 d(-1)) obtained from the same incubations were at least an order of magnitude lower than those measured in Antarctic surface lakes and oligotrophic areas of the ocean. Low growth efficiency (8%) indicated that heterotrophic populations in SLW partition a majority of their carbon demand to cellular maintenance rather than growth. Chemoautotrophic CO2-fixation exceeded heterotrophic organic C-demand by a factor of ~1.5. Aerobic respiratory activity associated with heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic metabolism surpassed the estimated supply of oxygen to SLW, implying that microbial activity could deplete the oxygenated waters, resulting in anoxia. We used thermodynamic calculations to examine the biogeochemical and energetic consequences of environmentally imposed switching between aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms in the SLW water column. Heterotrophic metabolisms utilizing acetate and formate as electron donors yielded less energy than chemolithotrophic metabolisms when calculated in terms of energy density, which supports experimental results that showed chemoautotrophic activity in excess of heterotrophic activity. The microbial communities of subglacial lake ecosystems provide important natural laboratories to study the physiological and biogeochemical behavior of microorganisms inhabiting cold, dark environments.Item Microbial sulfur transformations in Subglacial Lake Whillans sediments(2014-11) Purcell, Alicia M.; Mikucki, Jill A.; Achberger, Amanda M.; Alekhina, Irina A.; Barbante, Carlo; Christner, Brent C.; Ghosh, Dhritiman; Michaud, Alexander B.; Mitchell, Andrew C.; Priscu, John C.; Scherer, Reed; Skidmore, Mark L.; Vick-Majors, Trista J.Diverse microbial assemblages inhabit subglacial aquatic environments. While few of these environments have been sampled, data reveal that subglacial organisms gain energy for growth from reduced minerals containing nitrogen, iron, and sulfur. Here we investigate the role of microbially mediated sulfur transformations in sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW), Antarctica, by examining key genes involved in dissimilatory sulfur oxidation and reduction. The presence of sulfur transformation genes throughout the top 34 cm of SLW sediments changes with depth. SLW surficial sediments were dominated by genes related to known sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs. Sequences encoding the adenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (APS) reductase gene, involved in both dissimilatory sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation, were present in all samples and clustered into 16 distinct operational taxonomic units. The majority of APS reductase sequences (74%) clustered with known sulfur oxidizers including those within the “Sideroxydans” and Thiobacillus genera. Reverse-acting dissimilatory sulfite reductase (rDSR) and 16S rRNA gene sequences further support dominance of “Sideroxydans” and Thiobacillus phylotypes in the top 2 cm of SLW sediments. The SLW microbial community has the genetic potential for sulfate reduction which is supported by experimentally measured low rates (1.4 pmol cm-3d-1) of biologically mediated sulfate reduction and the presence of APS reductase and DSR gene sequences related to Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfotomaculum. Our results also infer the presence of sulfur oxidation, which can be a significant energetic pathway for chemosynthetic biosynthesis in SLW sediments. The water in SLW ultimately flows into the Ross Sea where intermediates from subglacial sulfur transformations can influence the flux of solutes to the Southern Ocean.Item Biogeochemistry and microbial diversity in the marine cavity beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica(2016-03) Vick-Majors, Trista J.; Achberger, Amanda M.; Santibanez, Pamela A.; Dore, John E.; Hodson, Timothy; Michaud, Alexander B.; Christner, Brent C.; Mikucki, Jill A.; Skidmore, Mark L.; Powell, Ross; Adkins, W. Peyton; Barbante, Carlo; Mitchell, Andrew C.; Scherer, Reed; Priscu, John C.Ice shelves surround ∼ 75% of Antarctica's coastline and are highly sensitive to climate change; several have recently collapsed and others are predicted to in the near future. Marine waters beneath ice shelves harbor active ecosystems, while adjacent seas can be important areas of bottom water formation. Despite their oceanographic significance, logistical constraints have resulted in few opportunities to directly sample sub-ice shelf cavities. Here, we present the first data on microbial diversity and biogeochemistry beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS) near Ross Island, Antarctica. Physicochemical profiles obtained via a 56 m deep borehole through the MIS revealed three vertically layered water masses (Antarctic Surface Water [AASW], Ice Shelf Water [ISW], and modified High Salinity Shelf Water [mHSSW]). Metabolically active, moderately diverse (Shannon diversity from 2.06 to 5.74) microbial communities were detected in the AASW and mHSSW. Heterotrophic bacterial production and dissolved organic matter concentrations were higher (12–37% and 24%, respectively) in mHSSW relative to AASW. Chemoautotrophic production was 5.3 nmol C L−1 d−1 and 6.0 nmol C L−1 d−1 in the AASW and mHSSW, respectively. Phytoplankton cells were more abundant and larger in the mHSSW sample relative to the AASW, which indicates sinking of phytoplankton produced in surface waters and, together with southerly flowing currents (0.09–0.16 m s−1), horizontal advection of phytoplankton from McMurdo Sound. Advected phytoplankton carbon together with in situ chemoautotrophic production provide important sources of organic matter and other reduced compounds to support ecosystem processes in the dark waters in the ice shelf cavity.Item WISSARD at Subglacial Lake Whillans, West Antarctica: scientific operations and initial observations(2014-09) Tulaczyk, Slawek; Mikucki, Jill A.; Siegfried, Matthew R.; Priscu, John C.; Barcheck, C. Grace; Beem, Lucas H.A clean hot-water drill was used to gain access to Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) in late January 2013 as part of the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project. Over 3 days, we deployed an array of scientific tools through the SLW borehole: a downhole camera, a conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) probe, a Niskin water sampler, an in situ filtration unit, three different sediment corers, a geothermal probe and a geophysical sensor string. Our observations confirm the existence of a subglacial water reservoir whose presence was previously inferred from satellite altimetry and surface geophysics. Subglacial water is about two orders of magnitude less saline than sea water (0.37–0.41 psu vs 35 psu) and two orders of magnitude more saline than pure drill meltwater (<0.002 psu). It reaches a minimum temperature of –0.55°C, consistent with depression of the freezing point by 7.019 MPa of water pressure. Subglacial water was turbid and remained turbid following filtration through 0.45 μm filters. The recovered sediment cores, which sampled down to 0.8 m below the lake bottom, contained a macroscopically structureless diamicton with shear strength between 2 and 6 kPa. Our main operational recommendation for future subglacial access through water-filled boreholes is to supply enough heat to the top of the borehole to keep it from freezing.