TY - JOUR
T1 - Glacier algae
T2 - a dark past and a darker future
AU - Williamson, Christopher
AU - Cameron, Karen
AU - Cook, Joseph
AU - Zarsky, Jakub
AU - Stibal, Marek
AU - Edwards, Arwyn
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded as part of the UK Natural Environment Research Council Consortium Grant ‘Black and Bloom’ (NE/ M021025/1). KAC was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 663830 and by the Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales through the Sêr Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy, and Environment. JDZ acknowledges support form project GAUK 279715.
Funding Information:
This work was funded as part of the UK Natural Environment Research Council Consortium Grant 'Black and Bloom' (NE/M021025/1). KAC was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 663830 and by the Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales through the Sêr Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy, and Environment. JDZ acknowledges support form project GAUK 279715.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Williamson, Cameron, Cook, Zarsky, Stibal and Edwards. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
PY - 2019/4/4
Y1 - 2019/4/4
N2 - “Glacier algae” grow on melting glacier and ice sheet surfaces across the cryosphere, causing the ice to absorb more solar energy and consequently melt faster, while also turning over carbon and nutrients. This makes glacier algal assemblages, which are typically dominated by just three main species, a potentially important yet under-researched component of the global biosphere, carbon, and water cycles. This review synthesizes current knowledge on glacier algae phylogenetics, physiology, and ecology. We discuss their significance for the evolution of early land plants and highlight their impacts on the physical and chemical supraglacial environment including their role as drivers of positive feedbacks to climate warming, thereby demonstrating their influence on Earth's past and future. Four complementary research priorities are identified, which will facilitate broad advances in glacier algae research, including establishment of reliable culture collections, sequencing of glacier algae genomes, development of diagnostic biosignatures for remote sensing, and improved predictive modeling of glacier algae biological-albedo effects.
AB - “Glacier algae” grow on melting glacier and ice sheet surfaces across the cryosphere, causing the ice to absorb more solar energy and consequently melt faster, while also turning over carbon and nutrients. This makes glacier algal assemblages, which are typically dominated by just three main species, a potentially important yet under-researched component of the global biosphere, carbon, and water cycles. This review synthesizes current knowledge on glacier algae phylogenetics, physiology, and ecology. We discuss their significance for the evolution of early land plants and highlight their impacts on the physical and chemical supraglacial environment including their role as drivers of positive feedbacks to climate warming, thereby demonstrating their influence on Earth's past and future. Four complementary research priorities are identified, which will facilitate broad advances in glacier algae research, including establishment of reliable culture collections, sequencing of glacier algae genomes, development of diagnostic biosignatures for remote sensing, and improved predictive modeling of glacier algae biological-albedo effects.
KW - glacier algae
KW - Streprophytes
KW - albedo
KW - Terrestrialization
KW - ice
KW - Streptophytes
KW - Albedo
KW - Glacier algae
KW - Ice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068211376&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00524
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00524
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 31019491
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
M1 - 524
ER -
