Nutrient cycling has been a central theme of glacier microbiology in the twenty-first century. Here is a run-down of the fundamentals, focussing on the major ones: nitrogen and carbon. Nitrogen's up first... The Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen is a key nutrient required for synthesising crucial organic molecules such as nucleotides, proteins, and chlorophyll. Nitrogen availability also … Continue reading Nutrient Cycling on Glaciers 1: Nitrogen
Tag: microbiology
Cryoconite Ecology: there’s something in the water…
Cryoconite holes represent the most active and biodiverse habitats in the supraglacial (ice surface) environment. Within cryoconite holes the majority of microbial life is concentrated in and around spheroidal granules of 1-10mm diameter, composed of mineral and organic matter, known as cryoconite. However, overlying cryoconite is almost always a column of meltwater centimetres to tens … Continue reading Cryoconite Ecology: there’s something in the water…
Climate amplifiers – ‘these go to eleven’
Physical Geography of the Human Realm students: this post provides additional notes to accompany the 'Cryosphere' lecture on Friday 8th November! Ice and Climate Ice ages and glacial interglacial cycles are periodic fluctuations in earth's ice cover over geologic time. An ice age is a period during which perennial ice is present on earth's surface. … Continue reading Climate amplifiers – ‘these go to eleven’
The old boys: ahead of the curve!
In the past decade or so, interest in glacier microbiology and "bioalbedo" has intensified, but it is important to remember that these ideas are not new. In fact, the early polar explorers wrote on these topics over 150 years ago and even identified species of algae in cryoconite and the role of ice algae for … Continue reading The old boys: ahead of the curve!
Glacier carbon fluxes on Antarcticglaciers.org
I wrote an article about carbon on glacier ice for Antarcticglaciers.org which went online today. I'm really happy to have contributed to this great website! Check it out here. For any of my students who read this - explore the Antarcticglaciers website, it is a great resource for cryosphere information to supplement the lecture material!
To The Poles 