New research has revealed that ice algae can store nutrients, a discovery that may enable them to colonize more of the ice sheet, darkening and accelerating its melting.
New research reveals that ice algae can store nutrients, a discovery that may enable them to colonize more of the ice sheet, darkening and accelerating its melting. While the sun's warmth triggers the melting of snow and the blooming of ice algae, a phenomenon traditionally observed in spring, climate change is causing earlier springs, potentially allowing the algae to expand their reach more rapidly.
These algae contain a brown pigment that darkens the ice, reducing its ability to reflect sunlight and leading to faster melting. This phenomenon has been known for some time, but the belief was that the algae had limited ability to colonize the ice due to the scarcity of nutrients in this icy environment. This new research, however, challenges that assumption. Laura Halbach, a researcher recently awarded her PhD from Aarhus University, and her team at the Max Planck Institute in Bremen, have discovered that ice algae are remarkably efficient at utilizing very limited nutrients and storing energy. This finding suggests they can colonize far larger areas of the ice sheet than previously thought. Halbach's groundbreaking research involved using innovative methods to measure the activity of individual algae cells from the Greenland Ice Sheet. This allowed her to observe their unique ability to thrive in nutrient-poor conditions and accumulate energy reserves. Ice algae are tiny, single-celled organisms found on ice surfaces worldwide, including the Greenland ice sheet, the Alps, and glaciers in the Himalayas and Alaska. Like plants, they release oxygen through photosynthesis and create organic molecules, requiring sunlight, water, CO2, and small amounts of phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon. Recent expeditions have revealed a surprisingly diverse ecosystem thriving on the Greenland ice sheet, encompassing not just ice algae but also bacteria, fungi, and even viruses. Isolating the role of ice algae within this complex community has been a challenge, as samples typically contain a mix of microorganisms. Halbach's team addressed this issue by feeding the entire ecosystem labeled nutrients, allowing them to trace which organisms consumed them. This technique, combined with a highly precise mass spectrometer, enabled them to measure the nutrient uptake of individual algae cells. The findings revealed that ice algae efficiently absorbed the scarce nutrients available and stored phosphorus, a crucial element for their metabolism. This phosphorus storage capacity, potentially derived from local rocks containing phosphate minerals, could be a key factor enabling their colonization of nutrient-poor ice regions
ICE ALGAE CLIMATE CHANGE NUTRIENT STORAGE GREENLAND ICE SHEET ECOSYSTEM
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