RESEARCH ARTICLE When a habitat freezes solid: microorganisms over-winter within the ice column ofa coastal Antarctic lake Christine M. Foreman1, Markus Dieser1, Mark Greenwood2, Rose M. Cory3, Johanna Laybourn-Parry4, John T. Lisle5, Christopher Jaros3, Penney L. Miller6, Yu-Ping Chin7 & Diane M. McKnight3 1Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA; 2Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA; 3INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA; 4Bristol Glaciology Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 5USGS, Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies, St. Petersburg, FL, USA; 6Department of 7 Chemistry, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN, USA; and 285 Mendenhall Laboratory, the Ohio State University, School of Earth Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/76/3/401/486873 by guest on 27 September 2021 Sciences, Columbus, OH, USA Correspondence: Christine M. Foreman, Abstract Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Center for Biofilm A major impediment to understanding the biology of microorganisms inhabiting Engineering, Montana State University, 366 Antarctic environments is the logistical constraint of conducting field work EPS Building, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA. primarily during the summer season. However, organisms that persist throughout Tel.: 11 406 994 7361; fax: 11 406 994 the year encounter severe environmental changes between seasons. In an attempt 6098; e-mail:
[email protected] to bridge this gap, we collected ice core samples from Pony Lake in early November 2004 when the lake was frozen solid to its base, providing an archive for the Present address: Rose M.