Diversity/ecology of polar cyanobacteria: Captain Scott to climate change
Dr Anne Jungblut is Principal Researcher in Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London and a National Geographic Explorer. She will discuss cyanobacteria and climate change in this South London Botanical Institute talk. Cyanobacteria arephototrophic oxygenic gram-negative bacteria widely distributed in the Polar Regions from terrestrial shallow lakes in permafrost landscapes, ice shelf meltwater ponds to ice-covered lakes in the Arctic and Antarctica. They are important for primary production and the basis of food webs in many polar freshwater environments. Cyanobacteria can form benthic phototrophic biofilms and microbial mats, with some of mats having unique three-dimensional macroscopic structures, which are used as modern analogues for life on Early Earth. We use microscopic and sequencing technologies to explore the diversity and ecology of cyanobacteria as well as adaptation mechanisms to polar environmental conditions in particular low temperatures, freezing, variable light conditions and nutrient availability. Our work on environmental samples, cyanobacteria strains and herbarium specimens collected during the Arctic and Antarctic Expeditions in the 19th century have also provided new insights in the environmental mechanisms that shape their community structure and biogeographic distribution.
Time: 19:00 GMT
