TY - JOUR
T1 - Methylotrophic Communities Associated with a Greenland Ice Sheet Methane Release Hotspot
AU - Znamínko, Matěj
AU - Falteisek, Lukáš
AU - Vrbická, Kristýna
AU - Klímová, Petra
AU - Christiansen, Jesper R.
AU - Jørgensen, Christian J.
AU - Stibal, Marek
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - Subglacial environments provide conditions suitable for the microbial production of methane, an important greenhouse gas, which can be released from beneath the ice as a result of glacial melting. High gaseous methane emissions have recently been discovered at Russell Glacier, an outlet of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, acting not only as a potential climate amplifier but also as a substrate for methane consuming microorganisms. Here, we describe the composition of the microbial assemblage exported in meltwater from the methane release hotspot at Russell Glacier and its changes over the melt season and as it travels downstream. We found that a substantial part (relative abundance 27.2% across the whole dataset) of the exported assemblage was made up of methylotrophs and that the relative abundance of methylotrophs increased as the melt season progressed, likely due to the seasonal development of the glacial drainage system. The methylotrophs were dominated by representatives of type I methanotrophs from the Gammaproteobacteria; however, their relative abundance decreased with increasing distance from the ice margin at the expense of type II methanotrophs and/or methylotrophs from the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Our results show that subglacial methane release hotspot sites can be colonized by microorganisms that can potentially reduce methane emissions.
AB - Subglacial environments provide conditions suitable for the microbial production of methane, an important greenhouse gas, which can be released from beneath the ice as a result of glacial melting. High gaseous methane emissions have recently been discovered at Russell Glacier, an outlet of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, acting not only as a potential climate amplifier but also as a substrate for methane consuming microorganisms. Here, we describe the composition of the microbial assemblage exported in meltwater from the methane release hotspot at Russell Glacier and its changes over the melt season and as it travels downstream. We found that a substantial part (relative abundance 27.2% across the whole dataset) of the exported assemblage was made up of methylotrophs and that the relative abundance of methylotrophs increased as the melt season progressed, likely due to the seasonal development of the glacial drainage system. The methylotrophs were dominated by representatives of type I methanotrophs from the Gammaproteobacteria; however, their relative abundance decreased with increasing distance from the ice margin at the expense of type II methanotrophs and/or methylotrophs from the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Our results show that subglacial methane release hotspot sites can be colonized by microorganisms that can potentially reduce methane emissions.
KW - Greenland Ice Sheet
KW - Methanotrophs
KW - Methylotrophs
KW - Subglacial environment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174301943&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00248-023-02302-x
DO - 10.1007/s00248-023-02302-x
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37843656
AN - SCOPUS:85174301943
SN - 0095-3628
VL - 86
SP - 3057
EP - 3067
JO - Microbial Ecology
JF - Microbial Ecology
IS - 4
ER -