Perennial Antarctic lake ice: an oasis for life in a polar desert.

نویسندگان

  • J C Priscu
  • C H Fritsen
  • E E Adams
  • S J Giovannoni
  • H W Paerl
  • C P McKay
  • P T Doran
  • D A Gordon
  • B D Lanoil
  • J L Pinckney
چکیده

The permanent ice covers of Antarctic lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys develop liquid water inclusions in response to solar heating of internal aeolian-derived sediments. The ice sediment particles serve as nutrient (inorganic and organic)-enriched microzones for the establishment of a physiologically and ecologically complex microbial consortium capable of contemporaneous photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and decomposition. The consortium is capable of physically and chemically establishing and modifying a relatively nutrient- and organic matter-enriched microbial "oasis" embedded in the lake ice cover.

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Science

دوره 280 5372  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 1998