Bacteria in Himalayan glacial ice and its relationship to dust

Abstract

Abstract. Concentrations and community diversity of bacteria from 50 segments of a 108.83 m ice core drilled from the East Rongbuk (ER) Glacier (28.03 • N, 86.96 • E, 6518 m above sea level) on the northeast slope of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest), covering the period 950-1963 AD, were investigated by epifluorescence microscope, DGGE and ShannonWeaver index analysis. Bacteria in the ER core were identified as β, γ -proteobacteria and Firmicutes group, with γ -proteobacteria being the dominance. Different bacterial population was identified along the core, reflecting the effects of climatic and environmental changes on the bacterial distribution in the glacial ice. There are four general periods of bacterial diversity, corresponding to four phases of dust abundance revealed by Ca 2+ concentrations. However, a previously suggested positive correlation between bacterial and Ca 2+ concentrations was not indicated by our observations. Instead, a weak negative correlation was found between these two parameters. Our results suggest that bacterial community diversity, rather than concentrations, might be a suitable biological proxy for the reconstruction of past climatic and environmental changes preserved in glacial ice.

Changes of the Bacterial Abundance and Communities in Shallow Ice Cores from Dunde and Muztagata Glaciers, Western China

“…Previous studies have shown the prevalence of specific bacteria in certain local glaciers (Zhang et al, 2008; Xiang et al, 2009; An et al, 2010; Franzetti et al, 2013; Miteva et al, 2015). However, our findings demonstrate that the members of bacterial genus-related groups are highly similar in the related ice cores at a historical scale, whereas the composition of the prevalent genus-related groups is largely different across the geographically different glaciers.…”

“…Only a few taxonomic groups are able to colonize and dominate in the snow, although numerous microorganisms are trapped in the surface snow (Zhang et al, 2008, 2009; Xiang et al, 2009, 2010; An et al, 2010). Previous limited data of glacier surface snow have shown that the bacteria Comamonadaceae and Flavisolibacter sp.…”

Influence of regional precipitation patterns on stable isotopes in ice cores from the central Himalayas

“…The dating of these cores can go back to the past 2000 yr, with a time resolution from annual scales for the upper part of ice core to decadal for the lower part (Xu and Yao, 2001;Hou et al, 2004). Invaluable climatic and environmental information in the central high Himalayas has been revealed by these ice cores, such as regional warming (Thompson et al, 2000b;Hou et al, 2007), atmospheric pollution induced by anthropogenic activities since the industrial revolution (Duan et al, 2007;Kaspari et al, 2009b;Hong et al, 2009), precipitation variations over the central Himalayas (Duan et al, 2004; centuries (Kaspari et al, 2009a;Xu et al, 2010), black carbon concentrations (Ming et al, 2008;Kaspari et al, 2011), and bacterial information (Zhang et al, 2007(Zhang et al, , 2008.…”

Community Variability of Bacteria in Alpine Snow (Mont Blanc) Containing Saharan Dust Deposition and Their Snow Colonisation Potential

“…Layered distribution of bacterial isolates within ice cores was thought to originate from diverse bacterial sources which could have been different in the past (55,57). It has been shown that dust concentration is more important in determining bacterial diversity than bacterial abundance in the Himalayan glaciers (57), a fact which could highlight the importance of aeolian transport conditions: therefore, the study of microorganisms trapped in ice might be useful for the reconstruction of past climatic and environmental changes (57).…”