Quantification of basal ice microbial cell delivery to the glacier margin [pre-print]

Toubes-Rodrigo, Mario; Cook, Simon J.; Elliott, David and Sen, Robin (2016). Quantification of basal ice microbial cell delivery to the glacier margin [pre-print]. Biogeosciences Discussions

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2016-471

Abstract

We present the first assessment of microbial cell discharge from sediment-laden glacier basal ice. At Svínafellsjökull, a temperate valley glacier in Iceland, approximately 10¹⁷ cells a⁻¹ are transferred through basal ice to the proglacial environment, and between 10¹ and 10⁶ cells g⁻¹ basal ice were cultured from our samples under laboratory conditions. We suggest that the delivery of viable cells and dead microbial matter to proglacial ecosystems could be playing a crucial role in soil formation and primary succession during deglaciation, but further quantification of cell transfer from a range of glacier contexts is required.

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