Projects per year
Abstract
Sea ice habitats harbour seasonally abundant microalgal communities, which can be highly productive in the spring when the availability of light increases. An active, bloom-associated prokaryotic community relies on these microalgae for their organic carbon requirements, however an analysis of the encoded metabolic pathways within them is lacking. Hence, our understanding of biogeochemical cycling within sea ice remains incomplete. Here, we generated metagenomic assembled genomes from the bottom of first-year sea ice in northwestern Hudson Bay, during a spring diatom bloom. We show that the prokaryotic community had the metabolic potential to degrade algal derived dimethylsulphoniopropionate and oxidise sulfur. Facultative anaerobic metabolisms, specifically, dissimilatory nitrate reduction and denitrification were also prevalent here, suggesting some sea ice prokaryotes are metabolically capable of adapting to fluctuating oxygen levels during algal bloom conditions. Such denitrification could be an important loss of fixed-N2 in the changing Arctic marine system.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | ISME Communications |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 131 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Field work and logistics were supported via collaborative contributions from the Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network of Centres of Excellence (MEOPAR-NCE) for the Southampton Island Marine Ecosystem Project (SIMEP), an NSERC-matched grant for the 2017-2018 Belmont Forum and BiodivERsA joint call for research proposals under the BiodivScen ERA-Net CO-FUND programme to the project ACCES: De-icing of Arctic Coasts (Critical or new opportunities for marine biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). Support was also provided from an ArcticNet National Centres of Excellence grant, as well as NSERC Discovery Grants and Northern Research Supplement to CJ Mundy, Jens Ehn and Zou Zou Kuzyk. This work is a contribution to the Diatom ARCTIC project (NE/R012849/1; 03F0810A), part of the Changing Arctic Ocean program, jointly funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council and the German Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF). It is also a contribution to the Research Council of Norway BREATHE (Bottom sea ice Respiration and nutrient Exchanges Assessed for THE Arctic) project (325405). Support was also provided to K. Campbell through the MICRO NutriENT project funded by the UK Arctic Office’s UK-Canada Arctic Partnership: Bursary Programme. C. Bellas was also supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF P-34620). P. Sanchez- Baracaldo was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
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Dive into the research topics of 'Nitrogen and sulfur metabolisms encoded in prokaryotic communities associated with sea ice algae'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Changing Arctic Ocean Grant, Diatom Autecological Responses to Changes in Ice Cover
Sanchez-Baracaldo, P. (Principal Investigator)
1/02/18 → 30/03/21
Project: Research
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Autecological responses of sea ice diatoms to changes in the Arctic marine system
Tranter, M. (Principal Investigator)
1/02/18 → 31/12/21
Project: Research