Perennial Antarctic lake ice: an oasis for life in a polar desert

Science. 1998 Jun 26;280(5372):2095-8. doi: 10.1126/science.280.5372.2095.

Abstract

The permanent ice covers of Antarctic lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys develop liquid water inclusions in response to solar heating of internal aeolian-derived sediments. The ice sediment particles serve as nutrient (inorganic and organic)-enriched microzones for the establishment of a physiologically and ecologically complex microbial consortium capable of contemporaneous photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and decomposition. The consortium is capable of physically and chemically establishing and modifying a relatively nutrient- and organic matter-enriched microbial "oasis" embedded in the lake ice cover.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Antarctic Regions
  • Bacteria / growth & development*
  • Bacteria / metabolism
  • Carbon / metabolism
  • Carbon Dioxide / metabolism
  • Cyanobacteria / genetics
  • Cyanobacteria / growth & development
  • Cyanobacteria / metabolism
  • Ecosystem*
  • Exobiology
  • Geologic Sediments / microbiology*
  • Ice*
  • Jupiter
  • Mars
  • Nitrogen Fixation
  • Photosynthesis
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA, Bacterial / genetics
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Water Microbiology*

Substances

  • Ice
  • RNA, Bacterial
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Carbon

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AF076157
  • GENBANK/AF076158
  • GENBANK/AF076159
  • GENBANK/AF076160
  • GENBANK/AF076161
  • GENBANK/AF076162
  • GENBANK/AF076163
  • GENBANK/AF076164
  • GENBANK/AF076165