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The biogeography of red snow microbiomes and their role in melting arctic glaciers.
- Source :
-
Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2016 Jun 22; Vol. 7, pp. 11968. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Jun 22. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- The Arctic is melting at an unprecedented rate and key drivers are changes in snow and ice albedo. Here we show that red snow, a common algal habitat blooming after the onset of melting, plays a crucial role in decreasing albedo. Our data reveal that red pigmented snow algae are cosmopolitan as well as independent of location-specific geochemical and mineralogical factors. The patterns for snow algal diversity, pigmentation and, consequently albedo, are ubiquitous across the Arctic and the reduction in albedo accelerates snow melt and increases the time and area of exposed bare ice. We estimated that the overall decrease in snow albedo by red pigmented snow algal blooms over the course of one melt season can be 13%. This will invariably result in higher melt rates. We argue that such a 'bio-albedo' effect has to be considered in climate models.
- Subjects :
- Arctic Regions
Bacteria classification
Biodiversity
Biomass
Chlorophyta classification
Climate Change
Fatty Acids
Freezing
Geography
Greenland
Iceland
Pigmentation
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S genetics
Seasons
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Species Specificity
Sweden
Ice Cover microbiology
Microbiota
Snow microbiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2041-1723
- Volume :
- 7
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature communications
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 27329445
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11968