Thermokarst Lakes, Ecosystems with Intense Microbial Processes of the Methane Cycle

Abstract

Thermokarst lakes are formed as a result of thawing of ice-rich permafrost, causing development of land depressions which in flat areas are filled with water in the case of positive water balance. Activation of the thermokarst process is one of the possible indicators of permafrost degradation under the conditions of global warming. Thermokarst lakes occur in the areas of continuous, discontinuous, and sporadic permafrost, i.e., in Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and northern Scandinavia. Specific microbial communities adapted to long-term exposure to low temperatures develop in such lakes. They vary in the rates of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism depending on the mineral composition of bottom sediments, availability of organic matter, limnological and hydrological features of the lakes. High rates of methane emission are characteristic of a number of thermokarst lakes. Recent studies of thermokarst lakes revealed active methane formation via various methanogenic pathways, as well as aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation by diverse methanogenic and methanotrophic bacteria and archaea. The question of what mechanisms and microorganisms are involved in anaerobic methane oxidation, which may be responsible for up to 80% of methane consumption in thermokarst lakes, remains, however, open. The microorganisms actively functioning beneath the ice during the long winter season, while highly important for northern aquatic ecosystems, also remain insufficiently studied. Almost no serious microbiological research on thermokarst lakes has been carried out in Russia, although permafrost occupies up to 65% of its territory, thermokarst process is common, and thermokarst lakes are numerous.