TY - JOUR

T1 - Methylotrophic Communities Associated with a Greenland Ice Sheet Methane Release Hotspot

AU - Znamínko, Matěj

AU - Falteisek, Lukáš

AU - Vrbická, Kristýna

AU - Klímová, Petra

AU - Christiansen, Jesper R.

AU - Jørgensen, Christian J.

AU - Stibal, Marek

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Subglacial environments provide conditions suitable for the microbial production of methane, an important greenhouse gas, which can be released from beneath the ice as a result of glacial melting. High gaseous methane emissions have recently been discovered at Russell Glacier, an outlet of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, acting not only as a potential climate amplifier but also as a substrate for methane consuming microorganisms. Here, we describe the composition of the microbial assemblage exported in meltwater from the methane release hotspot at Russell Glacier and its changes over the melt season and as it travels downstream. We found that a substantial part (relative abundance 27.2% across the whole dataset) of the exported assemblage was made up of methylotrophs and that the relative abundance of methylotrophs increased as the melt season progressed, likely due to the seasonal development of the glacial drainage system. The methylotrophs were dominated by representatives of type I methanotrophs from the Gammaproteobacteria; however, their relative abundance decreased with increasing distance from the ice margin at the expense of type II methanotrophs and/or methylotrophs from the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Our results show that subglacial methane release hotspot sites can be colonized by microorganisms that can potentially reduce methane emissions.

AB - Subglacial environments provide conditions suitable for the microbial production of methane, an important greenhouse gas, which can be released from beneath the ice as a result of glacial melting. High gaseous methane emissions have recently been discovered at Russell Glacier, an outlet of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet, acting not only as a potential climate amplifier but also as a substrate for methane consuming microorganisms. Here, we describe the composition of the microbial assemblage exported in meltwater from the methane release hotspot at Russell Glacier and its changes over the melt season and as it travels downstream. We found that a substantial part (relative abundance 27.2% across the whole dataset) of the exported assemblage was made up of methylotrophs and that the relative abundance of methylotrophs increased as the melt season progressed, likely due to the seasonal development of the glacial drainage system. The methylotrophs were dominated by representatives of type I methanotrophs from the Gammaproteobacteria; however, their relative abundance decreased with increasing distance from the ice margin at the expense of type II methanotrophs and/or methylotrophs from the Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Our results show that subglacial methane release hotspot sites can be colonized by microorganisms that can potentially reduce methane emissions.

KW - Greenland Ice Sheet

KW - Methanotrophs

KW - Methylotrophs

KW - Subglacial environment

U2 - 10.1007/s00248-023-02302-x

DO - 10.1007/s00248-023-02302-x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37843656

AN - SCOPUS:85174301943

VL - 86

SP - 3057

EP - 3067

JO - Microbial Ecology

JF - Microbial Ecology

SN - 0095-3628

IS - 4

ER -