MICROFUNGAL DISTRIBUTION & INTERACTIONS IN ANTARCTIC LAKE BONNEY ACROSS SEASONAL AND SPATIAL SCALES

Fungi are recognized as critical players in terrestrial ecosystems, though their role in aquatic ecosystems has been historically understudied. Improved molecular techniques have allowed for advancements to be made in understanding aquatic fungal ecology and the larger impact they have on protists and microbial food webs. As saprotrophs and parasites of algae, fungi can have major consequences on the carbon cycling of an aquatic system, especially those dependent on autochthonous carbon such as ice-covered lakes. The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica (MDVs) represent one of the driest and coldest deserts in the world, housing a collection of perennially ice-covered lakes. These lakes are natural laboratories for exploring microbial interactions, though research has been largely limited to the austral summer due to the difficulty of accessing the region in winter. The deployment of a suite of Autonomous Lake Profile Samplers (ALPS) into Lake Bonney has enabled the collection of physicochemical & biological samples about every three weeks over an entire year. The ALPS project provides an opportunity to explore seasonal changes in microbial community structure and potential interactions. By exploring diversity metrics and generating association networks, fungal diversity and function can be assessed across depth and season which allows for a clearer view on the microbial loop within polar lakes. Preliminary 18S rRNA gene amplicon data suggests that pathogenic fungi are significant network members across all seasons, increasing in connectivity with the onset of polar night.

Primary Presenter: Eckhardt Karsten, Miami University (karsteea@miamioh.edu)

Authors:

Eckhardt Karsten, Miami University  (karsteea@miamioh.edu)

Emily Reynebeau, University of New Mexico  (e.r.reynebeau@gmail.com)

Cristina Takacs-Vesbach, University of New Mexico  (cvesbach@gmail.com)

Rachael Morgan-Kiss, Miami University  (morganr2@miamioh.edu)