References

Biogeosciences

1726-4189

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/bg-5-1741-2008

Bacteria in Himalayan glacial ice and its relationship to dust

Zhang

¹ ² Hou

¹ Wu

³ Qin

State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Department of life science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China

School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

15 12 2008

5 6 1741 1750

2008

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/5/1741/2008/bg-5-1741-2008.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/5/1741/2008/bg-5-1741-2008.pdf

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 Shannon-Weaver 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 Ca2+ concentrations. However, a previously suggested positive correlation between bacterial and Ca2+ 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.

References 1

Christner, B. C., Mikucki, J. A., Foreman, C. M., Denson, J., and Priscu, J. C.: Glacial ice cores: a model system for developing extraterrestrial decontamination protocols, Icarus, 174, 572–584, 2005.

Crump, B. C., Kling, G. W., Bahr, M., and Hobbie, J. E.: Bacterioplankton community shifts in an Arctic lake correlate with seasonal changes in organic matter source, Appl. Environ. Microb., 69, 2253–2268, 2003.

Gast, R. J., Dennett, M. R., and Caron, D. A.: Characterization of protistan assemblages in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, Appl. Environ. Microb., 70, 2028–2037, 2004.

Hou, S., Qin, D., Yao, T., Zhang, D., and Chen, T.: Recent change of the ice core accumulation rates on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Sci. Bull., 47, 1746–1749, 2002.

Hou, S., Jouzel, J., Chappellaz, J., Qin, D., Masson–Delmotte, V., von Grafenstein, U., Landais, A., and Caillon, N.: Age of Himalayan bottom ice cores, J. Glaciol., 50, 467–468, 2004.

Huber, J. A., Butterfield, D. A., and Baross, J. A.: Temporal changes in archaeal diversity and chemistry in a mid-ocean ridge subseafloor habitat, Appl. Environ. Microb., 68, 1585–1594, 2002.

Huber, J. A., Butterfield, D. A., and Baross, J. A.: Bacterial diversity in a subseafloor habitat following a deep-sea volcanic eruption, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 43, 393–409, 2003.

Ivask, J., Pentchuk, J., and Vaikmäe, R.: Ion chromatographic determination of major anions and cations in Antarctic ice, Proc. Estonian Acad. Sci. Chem., 50, 46–51, 2001.

Kang, S., Mayewski, P. A., Qin, D., Yan, Y., Hou, S., Zhang, D., Ren, J., and Kruetz, K.: Glaciochemical records from a Mt. Everest ice core: relationship to atmospheric circulation over Asia, Atmos. Environ., 36, 3351–3361, 2002.

Kaspari, S., Mayewski, P., Kang, S., Sneed, S., Hou, S. Hooke, R., Kreutz, K., Introne, D., Handley, M., Maasch, K., Qin, D., and Ren, J.: Reduction in northward incursions of the South Asian monsoon since 1400 AD inferred from a Mt Everest ice core, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16701, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030440, 2007.

Kaspari, S., Hooke, R., Mayewski, P. A., Kang, S., Hou, S., and Qin, D.: Snow accumulation rate on Mt Everest: synchroneity with sites across the Tibetan Plateau on 50–100 year timescales, J. Glaciol., 54, 343–352, 2008.

Lydolph, M. C., Jacobsen, J., Arctander, P., Thomas, M., Gilbert, P., Gilichinsky, D. A., Hansen, A. J., Willerslev, E., and Lange, L.: Beringian paleoecology inferred from permafrost–preserved fungal DNA, Appl. Environ. Microb., 71, 1012–1017, 2005.

McCaig, A. E., Glover, L. A., and Prosser, J. I.: Numerical analysis of grassland bacterial community structure under different land management regimens by using 16S ribosomal DNA sequence data and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis banding patterns, Appl. Environ. Microb., 67, 4554–4559, 2001.

Mitskevich, I. N., Poglazova, M. N., Abyzov, S. S., Barkov, N. I., Bobin, N. E., and Ivanov, M. V.: Microorganisms found in the basal horizons of the Antarctic glacier above Lake Vostok, Dokl. Biol. Sci., 381, 420–423, 2001.

Ntengwe, F. W.: An overview of industrial wastewater treatment and analysis as means of preventing pollution of surface and underground water bodies – the case of Nkana Mine in Zambia, Phys. Chem. Earth, 30, 726–734, 2005.

Priscu, J. C., Fritsen, C. H., Adams, E. E., Giovannoni, S. J., Paerl, H. W., McKay, C. P., Doran, P. T., Gordon, D. A., Lanoil, B. D., and Pinckney, J. L.: Perennial Antarctic lake ice: an oasis for life in a polar desert, Science, 280, 2095–2098, 1998.

Segawa, T., Miyamoto, K., Ushida, K., Agata, K., Okada, N., and Koshima, S.: Seasonal change in bacterial flora and biomass in mountain snow from the Tateyama mountains, Japan, analyzed by 16S rDNA gene sequencing and Real-Time PCR, Appl. Environ. Microb., 71, 123–130, 2005.

Shannon, C. E. and Weaver, W.: A mathematical theory of communication, 2nd ed, Illinois Univ. Press, Urbana, 226 pp., 1963.

Skidmore, M., Anderson, S. P., Sharp, M., Foght, J., and Lanoil, B. D.: Comparison of microbial community compositions of two subglacial environments reveals a possible role for microbes in chemical weathering processes, Appl. Environ. Microb., 71, 6986–6997, 2005.

Uga, S., Oda, T., Kimura, K., Kimura, D., Koesdarto, S., Margono, S., Nuvit, K., and Apakupakul, N.: Detection of microorganisms in tap water in Indonesia and Thailand, Jpn. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 31, 87–91, 2003.

Willerslev, E., Hansen, A. J., Christensen, B., Steffensen, J. P., and Arctander, P.: Diversity of Holocene life forms in fossil glacier ice, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96, 8017–8021, 1999.

Xiang, S., Yao, T., An, L., Li, Z., Wu, G., Wang Y., Xu, B., and Wang J.: Change of bacterial community in the Malan Ice Core and its relation to climate and environment, Chinese Sci. Bull., 49, 1869–1875, 2004.

Xiang, S., Yao, T., Wu, G., Chen, Y., Shang, T., Pu, L., and An, L.: Deposition on properties of bacterial populations in the Muztag Ata ice core, Quat. Sci., 26, 185–191, 2006 (in Chinese).

Xu, J., Hou, S., Qin, D., Ren, J., and Ming, J.: Dust storm activity over the Tibetan Plateau recorded by a shallow ice core from the north slope of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest), Tibet-Himal region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L17504, https://doi.org/ 10.1029/2007GL030853, 2007.

Yamagishi, T., Hishinuma, T., and Kataoka, H.: Bicarbonate enhances synchronous division of the giant nuclei of sporophytes in Bryopsis plumose, J. Plant. Res., 116, 295–300, 2003.

Yao, T., Xiang, S., Zhang, X., Wang, N., and Wang, Y.: Microorganisms in the Malan ice core and their relation to climatic and environmental changes, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 20, GB1004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002424, 2006.

Yoshimura, Y., Kohshima, S., Takeuchi, N., Seko, K., and Fujita, K.: Snow algae in a Himalayan ice core: new environmental markers for ice core analyses and their correlation with summer mass balance, Ann. Glaciol., 43, 148–153, 2006.

Zhang, S., Hou, S., Ma, X., Qin, D., and Chen, T.: Culturable Bacteria in the East Rongbuk Glacier, Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) in response to atmospheric circulation, Biogeosciences, 4, 1–9, 2007.

Zhang, X.: Diversity of microorganisms and DNA entrapped in glacier ice of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its relation with environment, Ph.D. thesis, Cold and Arid Reg. Environ. Eng. Res. Inst., Chin. Acad. of Sci. at Lanzhou, China, 2002.

Zhang, X.: Diversity of microorganisms entrapped in Puruogangri ice core and its relation to environment, Ph.D. thesis, Cold and Arid Reg. Environ. Eng. Res. Inst., Chin. Acad. of Sci. at Lanzhou, China, 2006.

Zhang, X., Yao, T., An, L., Tian, L., and Xu, S.: A study on the vertical profile of bacterial DNA structure in the Puruogangri (Tibetan Plateau) ice core using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, Ann. Glaciol., 43, 160–166, 2006.

Zhang, X., Ma, X., Yao, T., and Zhang, G.: Diversity of 16S rDNA and environmental factor influencing bacteria in Malan ice core, Chinese Sci. Bull., 48(11), 1146–1151, 2003.

Zhou, J., Bruns, M. A., and Tiedje, J. M.: DNA recovery from soils of diverse composition, Appl. Environ. Microb., 62, 361–322, 1996.