Collaborative Research: What Limits Denitrification and Bacterial Growth in Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica?

Other factors, such as oxygen concentration, are likely also to affect bacterial activity in Lake Bonney. This project will investigate silver toxicity, general metal toxicity and oxygen concentration to determine their effect on denitrification in the lake by using a suite of 'sentinel' strains of denitrifying bacteria (isolated from the lake) incubated in Lake Bonney water and subjected to various treatments. The physiological responses of these strains to changes in metal and oxygen concentration will be quantified by flow cytometric detection of single cell molecular probes whose sensitivity and interpretation have been optimized for the sentinel strains.

Understanding the relationships between metals and denitrification is expected to enhance our understanding of not only Lake Bonney's unusual nitrogen cycle, but more generally, of the potential role of metals in the regulation of microbial nitrogen transformations. The broader impacts of this work include not only a better understanding of regional biogeochemistry and global perspectives on these processes; but also the training of graduate students and a substantial outreach effort for school children.