This study was intended to identify the impact of salt concentrations on the diversity of Antarctic microbial taxa. Lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valley(MDV) of Antarctica are permanently covered with 3-5 meters of ice and have substantially increasing salt concentrations as the depth increases in the lakes. Salinity is a harsh stressor for most organisms […]
A43: Actinobacteria and Their Link to Unique Microbial Ecosystems in the Taylor Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Extremophiles, organisms that live in environments outside of the conditions that are well suited to life, need incredible amounts of adaptation to survive. One of the most extreme environments on earth are the lakes in the Taylor Dry Valleys in Antarctica. These lakes are subject to the polar night, as well as increased radiation.Low precipitation […]
A28: The Impact of Elevated Salinity on Palmelloid Formation and Disruption in Chlamydomonas Species
Soil salinity is a foreign term to most, yet it is now a global issue. With an increase in farming and irrigation worldwide, soil salinity is stunting crop growth and inhibiting its ability to produce viable yields. Salt exposure to photosynthetic organisms can severely inhibit their growth rate and cause cell damage, however, mesophilic green […]
C30-P: How Oxidative Stress Affects Arctic Communities
Justin and Pamela’s focus for microbiology research specifically looked at the microbial ecology of Antarctic lakes. They were working under the supervision of Dr. Rachael Morgan-Kiss of the Microbiology Department. Their research posed them with two questions focusing on the different types of microbes that can grow in varying Antarctic conditions and how adding oxidative […]
A33-P: MBI 475/575: High Salinity Condition (U6)
Antarctic ecosystems are one of the few places where mankind has yet to significantly disturb the biogeochemical cycling of microorganisms. The goal of this study was to subject samples from Lake Fryxell, an Antractic freshwater lake, to high salinity conditions in order to observe compositional changes in the microbial communities and detect resilience. We conducted […]
B28-P: Importance of Light for Growth and Productivity of Antarctic Microbial Samples
Antarctic lake microbes survive in environments with a myriad of extreme conditions. Understanding microbial community structure and metabolic diversity in these stressful conditions is an underexplored topic in microbial ecology. Notably, these communities are largely dependent on photosynthesis to form the base of their food webs, and thus light availability has major implications on community […]
C96: Eukaryotic Diversity In Perennially Ice-Covered Lakes
Studying organisms that live and thrive in perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valley of Antarctica is the primary focus of Dr. Morgan-Kiss’s lab. Dr. Morgan-Kiss finds it important to compare her findings with other researchers around the world who study similar lakes. Key characteristics these lakes need to share to be included in […]
B40: Acclimation of an Antarctic Alga to Environmental Stress
In studying the Antarctic psychrophile Chlamydomonas sp. UWO 241, one topic of particular interest has been the novel mechanisms it uses to deal with stress and maintain photosynthetic capability in its environment. Previous work established that UWO 241 uses constitutively upregulated photosystem-I driven cyclic electron flow to deal with high salinity stress. The goal of […]