Abstract
Great Salt Lake, Utah, is thalassohaline, terminal lake that currently occupies the Bonneville Basin, a depression in the larger Great Basin area of the western United States. Natural processes and climate conditions create a dynamic ecosystem with shifting salinity gradients and lake levels. Great Salt Lake has also been subjected to anthropomorphic impacts, perhaps most significantly, a railroad causeway that has created an isolated, hypersaline north arm. The lake’s enormous size, various microniches, salinity gradients, and unique geochemistry support a variety of life in its waters. Two invertebrates feed a diverse avian community, but the complexity of the ecosystem lies at the microbial level. Halophilic microbial extremophiles provide energy and nutrient turnover for the system. This review provides a biological inventory in the context of an ever-changing Great Salt Lake. The microbial diversity includes communities of bacteria, archaea, phytoplankton, protists, and fungi; the latter of which is framed with new data presented here. The biogeochemistry of microbialites is discussed as an example of complex microbial communities working together in the lake. Great Salt Lake is both a model for the limits of life on Earth and for potential life on other space bodies. The lake’s minerals (halite and gypsum) on the shores, in the sediment, and in the surrounding evaporite deposits have biopreservation abilities, protecting halophilic cells and their molecules in brine fluid inclusions. These observations suggest Great Salt Lake is an appropriate analogue for the study of ancient salt lakes and evaporites discovered on Mars.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call