The diversity of ice algal communities on the Greenland Ice Sheet as revealed by oligotyping.

ABSTRACT: The Arctic is being disproportionally affected by climate change compared with other geographic locations, and is currently experiencing unprecedented melt rates. The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) can be regarded as the largest supraglacial ecosystem on Earth, and ice algae are the dominant primary producers on bare ice surfaces throughout the course of a melt season. Ice-algal-derived pigments cause a darkening of the ice surface, which in turn decreases albedo and increases melt rates. The important role of ice algae in changing melt rates has only recently been recognized, and we currently know little about their community compositions and functions. Here, we present the first analysis of ice algal communities across a 100 km transect on the GrIS by high-throughput sequencing and subsequen

SUBMITTER: Lutz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5885011 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature