Abstract
Ciliates are important consumers of pico- and nano-sized producers, are nutrient regenerators, and are an important food source for metazoans. To date, ecological research on ciliates has focused on marine ecosystems rather than on glacier habitats. This paper presents the first major study on ciliates from the Ecology Glacier (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica). The objective of the study was to investigate the structure and spatial distribution of ciliate communities and to identify the environmental factors determining the structure of the assemblages. Microbial communities were collected from three habitats: surface snow, cryoconite holes, and glacier streams. Sam- pling was carried out every 3-4 days from January 17 to February 24, 2012. A total of 18 ciliate taxa were identi- fied. The species richness, abundance, and biomass of protozoa differed significantly between the stations studied with the lowest numbers in streams on the glacier surface and the highest numbers in cryoconite holes. The RDA performed to specify the direct relationships between the abundance of ciliate taxa and environmental variables showed obvious differences between studied habitats. The analysis showed that all variables together explained 62.4 % of total variance. However, variables that significantly explained the variance in ciliate communities in cryoconite holes, snow, and surface streams were tem- perature, conductivity, and total nitrogen. Further research is required to explain the impact of biotic factors influ- encing the presence of ciliates, including the abundance of bacteria, microalgae, and small Metazoa.
Highlights
Glaciers and ice sheets are among the least explored sectors of the Earth’s biosphere
A total of 18 ciliate taxa were recorded on the Ecology Glacier
On a glacier in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, in micro-sites dominated by cryoconite holes, only four species of ciliates were observed (Sawstrom et al 2002)
Summary
Glaciers and ice sheets are among the least explored sectors of the Earth’s biosphere. The existence of glaciers and ice sheets is determined by particular patterns of precipitation, temperature, and topographic conditions. The resulting dark particles melt into the ice and form cryoconite holes, water-filled depressions (typically 5 cm–\1 m in diameter and \0.5 m deep) that develop on glaciers when solar-heated inorganic and organic debris melt into the surface. There is increasing evidence from clone libraries and microscopy studies that a highly abundant microbial community can be found in cryoconite holes, including viruses, bacteria, and algae (Mueller et al 2001; Porazinska et al 2004; Anesio et al 2007), and other organisms such as tardigrades, rotifers, nematodes, protozoa, and insect larvae (Koshima 1984; Grongaard et al 1999).
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