Dynamics of 'Glacier Blood' microbial ecosystems in the European Alps

Mountain environments are home to extremophilic
terrestrial microalgae that become loaded with pigments to
protect them from strong light conditions. The red staining
of snow and ice surfaces characteristic of such microbial
activity (known as 'glacier blood') is now noticeably more
frequent and widespread at high altitudes globally and is
evidence that warming is impacting mountain ecology at
the most fundamental of levels. Although algae residing

within the surface of high-latitude ice masses are now well-
known to play globally significant roles in biogeochemical
cycling and ice-albedo feedbacks, the distribution, diversity,
and function of algal communities specific to alpine regions
has been poorly studied, meaning little is understood
regarding their origin and dynamics, means of production,
and impact on carbon cycling and glacier melt.
Objectives
1. Apply Earth Observation tools to quantify algal spatial
and temporal dynamics on snow and ice surfaces
2. Undertake field sampling of snow and ice surfaces and
melt products
3. Apply metagenomic and metaproteomic analyses to
samples to elucidate ecosystem composition and function
4. Quantify the sources and fluxes of carbon at the

catchment scale and the contribution from snow- and ice-
surface ecosystems

Novelty & timeliness
Algae affect and are affected by environmental warming
and expansion of algal communities at high elevation has
potentially destablising consequences for mountain
ecosystems and ice bodies. This project will couple Earth
Observation approaches that will quantify algal community

expansion at the Alpine scale with plot- and catchment-
level sampling to enable: (a) metagenomic and

metaproteomic analyses that will establish microbial
community composition, processes and metabolic
pathways; and (b) carbon quality and carbon isotope
analysis that will quantify carbon fluxes from biological and
geological sources. This novel suite of methods aims to
provide unique insight into algal community functioning and
dynamics and their role in biogeochemical processes that
sequester atmospheric CO2.