Antarctic Microbial Communities, Livingston Island, Maritime Antarctic

Funding

DFG (2006-2009)

Cooperation

Andrè Lipski
Lipid biomarker
University of Osnabrück
Osnabrück, Germany

Christo Pimpirev
Geology
Bulgarian Antarctic Institute
Sofia, Bulgaria

Background

In the scope of the project the diversity and ecology of microbial communities and their functions in nutrient turnover under the extreme conditions in Antarctic periglacial environments will be studied. Antarctic polar regions are vast and unique natural laboratories, both because of their geographical isolation and the minor anthropogenic influences active there, for studying microbial life under extreme environmental conditions. For this purpose the diversity and abundance of the microflora in dependence of important site characteristics such as hydrological, thermal and weathering processes will be investigated in different habitats on Livingstone Island (South Shetland Islands, Maritime Antarctic). The main objectives are the genotypic and phenotypic characterization of the microbial community by cultivation-independent methods such as lipid profiling and rRNA-based analyses. Stable isotope probing will be used to identify the main microbial players in nutrient turnover in the different environments. The acquired data will give insights into the early stage of life on Earth, the development of extreme habitats and the functioning of microbes within the ecosystem.

Outcomes

Wagner D., Schwamborn G., Hubberten H.-W. and Pimpirev C. (2006) Bulgarian-German Expedition: LIVINGSTON 2005. Reports on Polar Research, 539, 91-123.

Schwammborn G., Wagner D. and Hubberten H.-W. (2008) The use of GPR to detect active layer in young periglacial terrain of Livingston Island, Maritime Antarctica. Near Surface Geophysics 6, 327-332.

Ganzert L., Lipski A., Hubberten H. -W. and Wagner, D. (2011) The impact of different soil parameters on the diversity of dominant bacteria from nine different soils located on Livingston Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, in press.

Bajerski F., Ganzert L., Mangelsdorf K., Lipski A. and Wagner D. (2011) Cryobacterium arcticum sp. nov., a novel psychrotolerant species from Store Koldewey, Northeast Greenland. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, in press.

Ganzert L., Bajerski F., Mangelsdorf K., Lipski A. and Wagner D. (2011) Leifsonia psychrotolerans sp. nov., a new psychrotrophic species of the family Microbacteriaceae from Livingston Island, Antarctica. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, in press.

Ganzert L., Bajerski F., Mangelsdorf K., Lipski A. and Wagner D. (2011) Arthrobacter livingstonensis sp. nov. and Arthrobacter cryotolerans sp. nov., two novel salt-tolerant, psychrophilic Arthrobacter species from Livingston Island, Antarctica. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, in press.