Dataset Information

Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet.

ABSTRACT: The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10^-2 m d^-1), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delivers 5 × 10⁸ cells m^-2 d^-1 to supraglacial streams, equivalent to a carbon flux up to 250 g km^-2 d^-1. We infer that cellular carbon accumulation in the weathering crust exceeds fluvial export, promoting biomass sequestration, enhanced carbon cycling, and biological albedo reduction. We estimate that up to 37 kg km^-2 of cellular carbon is flushed from the weathering crust environment of the western Greenland Ice Sheet each summer, providing an appreciable flux to support heterotrophs and methanogenesis at the bed.

SUBMITTER: Irvine-Fynn TDL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8233322 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet.

Irvine-Fynn T D L TDL Edwards A A Stevens I T IT Mitchell A C AC Bunting P P Box J E JE Cameron K A KA Cook J M JM Naegeli K K Rassner S M E SME Ryan J C JC Stibal M M Williamson C J CJ Hubbard A A

Nature communications 20210625 1

The Greenland Ice Sheet harbours a wealth of microbial life, yet the total biomass stored or exported from its surface to downstream environments is unconstrained. Here, we quantify microbial abundance and cellular biomass flux within the near-surface weathering crust photic zone of the western sector of the ice sheet. Using groundwater techniques, we demonstrate that interstitial water flow is slow (~10<sup>-2</sup> m d<sup>-1</sup>), while flow cytometry enumeration reveals this pathway delive ...[more]

PMID: 34172727

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Project description:Measuring microbial abundance in glacier ice and identifying its controls is essential for a better understanding and quantification of biogeochemical processes in glacial ecosystems. However, cell enumeration of glacier ice samples is challenging due to typically low cell numbers and the presence of interfering mineral particles. We quantified for the first time the abundance of microbial cells in surface ice from geographically distinct sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), using three enumeration methods: epifluorescence microscopy (EFM), flow cytometry (FCM), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In addition, we reviewed published data on microbial abundance in glacier ice and tested the three methods on artificial ice samples of realistic cell (10(2)-10(7) cells ml(-1)) and mineral particle (0.1-100 mg ml(-1)) concentrations, simulating a range of glacial ice types, from clean subsurface ice to surface ice to sediment-laden basal ice. We then used multivariate statistical analysis to identify factors responsible for the variation in microbial abundance on the ice sheet. EFM gave the most accurate and reproducible results of the tested methodologies, and was therefore selected as the most suitable technique for cell enumeration of ice containing dust. Cell numbers in surface ice samples, determined by EFM, ranged from ~ 2 × 10(3) to ~ 2 × 10(6) cells ml(-1) while dust concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 2 mg ml(-1). The lowest abundances were found in ice sampled from the accumulation area of the ice sheet and in samples affected by fresh snow; these samples may be considered as a reference point of the cell abundance of precipitants that are deposited on the ice sheet surface. Dust content was the most significant variable to explain the variation in the abundance data, which suggests a direct association between deposited dust particles and cells and/or by their provision of limited nutrients to microbial communities on the GrIS.

Dataset Information

Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet.

Publications

Storage and export of microbial biomass across the western Greenland Ice Sheet.

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