Host: Melisa Diaz
Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss - O’Toole Family Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology
Antarctica was once thought to be a lifeless continent, defined by its most notably feature, a continuous sheet of ice. However, diverse microbial lifeforms thrive in this otherwise inhospitable habitat, particularly in the rare places where sufficient light and liquid water are available. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) harbor one of the most diverse and productive microbial habitats in Antarctica. Nestled within the valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains in Eastern Antarctica, the MDVs are a cold desert region, characterized by dry soils and minimum annual precipitation. Permanently ice-covered lakes represent oases receiving limited light and year-round liquid water for consortia of microorganisms. Within the stratified water columns, diverse communities of protists play important roles in carbon and nutrient cycling within truncated food webs dominated by the microbial loop. Our research group has studied the distribution and function of the MDV lake protist community for nearly two decades. In this seminar the diversity and trophic roles of the MDV lake protist community will be discussed, including environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns in key protist taxa in two lakes within the MDVs, Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. Integrated studies from the field to the lab which have illuminated strategies of survival during the long polar winter will also be discussed.
Zoom Link: go.osu.edu/ses_seminar
Password: 080817
