BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES in ANTARCTIC AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS: LINKAGES and LIMITATIONS by Trista Juliana Vick-Majors a Thesis Subm
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BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN ANTARCTIC AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS: LINKAGES AND LIMITATIONS by Trista Juliana Vick-Majors A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology and Environmental Sciences MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana January 2016 ©COPYRIGHT by Trista Juliana Vick-Majors 2016 All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Dr. John Priscu, for giving me the opportunity to be involved in so many amazing projects, for opening the door to the Antarctic (I didn’t even know it had one), and for giving me the freedom and support to explore my ideas. I am especially grateful to my committee members, John Dore, Eric Boyd, Anne Camper, and Dan Miller for their support and guidance. Special thanks to John Dore for seeing me through both of my graduate degrees, and Eric Boyd for always having an open door. The work in this dissertation would not have been possible without collaborations with many excellent scientists on the McMurdo LTER, the WISSARD Project, and beyond. Amanda Achberger and Alex Michaud – “we’re still in this!” Thank you for your camaraderie and talking science with me. My research and fieldwork would not have been possible without Brent Christner and Mark Skidmore, and I am grateful for their support. Special thanks to Susan Kelly, for being a wonderful friend and advocate, and giving me the opportunity to share my science with the public. Pamela Santibáñez, thank you for your constant support and sharing your wonderful mind with me. My friends and family have seen me though a long road to get here, and I am grateful to all of them. Thank you, Pa, for teaching me to love nature, and Mom, for teaching me to love learning. To my wonderful husband, Shelby – you are my rock. I can’t thank you enough. And to Aunt Jayme, for being there when we needed you. My research was funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (grants to John C. Priscu), grants from the Montana Institute on Ecosystems, and an American Association of University Women Fellowship. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 Structure of the Dissertation .............................................................................................1 Microbial Ecology in Antarctic Aquatic Environments ...................................................2 McMurdo Dry Valley Lakes ....................................................................................6 Life Under Ice Shelves.............................................................................................7 Subglacial Aquatic Environments ............................................................................8 Significance of My Research ..........................................................................................10 Hypotheses and Objectives .............................................................................................12 References .......................................................................................................................15 2. MODULAR COMMUNITY STRUCTURE SUGGESTS METABOLIC PLASTICITY DURING THE TRANSITION TO POLAR NIGHT IN ICE-COVERED ANTARCTIC LAKES .......................................20 Contribution of Authors and Co-Authors ......................................................................20 Manuscript Information Page ........................................................................................21 Introduction ....................................................................................................................22 Methods .........................................................................................................................23 Sample Collection ..................................................................................................23 Sequencing .............................................................................................................24 Sequence Processing ..............................................................................................24 Taxonomy Assignment ..........................................................................................24 Diversity Calculations ............................................................................................24 Network Analysis...................................................................................................24 Statistics .................................................................................................................24 Results and Discussion ...................................................................................................24 Seasonal Variation in Microbial Communities ......................................................24 Co-occurance Patterns and the Molecular Ecological Network ............................28 Conclusions .....................................................................................................................30 Conflict of Interest ..........................................................................................................30 Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................30 References .......................................................................................................................30 Supplemental Methods....................................................................................................34 Supplemental Discussion of Significant Modules .................................................36 References ..............................................................................................................39 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS – CONTINUED 3. PARTITIONING OF INORGANIC CARBON-FIXATION IN PERMANENTLY ICE-COVERED ANTARCTIC LAKES ........................................70 Contribution of Authors and Co-Authors ......................................................................70 Manuscript Information Page ........................................................................................71 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................78 Supplemental Methods ..................................................................................................79 References .....................................................................................................................81 4. A MICROBIOLOGICALLY CLEAN STRATEGY FOR ACCESS TO THE WHILLANS ICE STREAM SUBGLACIAL ENVIRONMENT ..................84 Contribution of Authors and Co-Authors ......................................................................84 Manuscript Information Page ........................................................................................86 Introduction ....................................................................................................................87 Methods..........................................................................................................................89 Borehole Filtration and Germicidal Treatment System .........................................89 Dye Test .................................................................................................................89 Bead Removal Experiment ....................................................................................89 Silt Removal Experiment .......................................................................................90 Bacterial Culture Removal and Viability Test .......................................................90 Lakewater Bacterial Removal and Viability ..........................................................90 Lakewater Pasteurization Test ...............................................................................90 Surface-Based Cleaning Experiments ....................................................................91 Results ...........................................................................................................................91 Dye Test Results ....................................................................................................91 Bead Removal Experiment ....................................................................................92 Silt Removal Experiment .......................................................................................92 UV Exposure and Cell Viability ............................................................................93 Lakewater Bacterial Removal and Viability ..........................................................93 Lakewater Pasteurization Test ...............................................................................94 Surface Cleaning Experiments ...............................................................................94 Discussion .....................................................................................................................94 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................96 References .....................................................................................................................96 v TABLE OF CONTENTS – CONTINUED 5. BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND MICROBIAL DIVERSITY IN THE MARINE CAVITY BENEATH THE MCMURDO ICE SHELF, ANTARCTICA .................................................................98