Influences of pond geochemistry, temperature, and freeze-thaw on terminal anaerobic processes occurring in sediments of six ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, near Bratina Island, Antarctica.

The effects of freeze-thaw, freezing and sediment geochemistry on terminal anaerobic processes occurring in sediments taken from below cyanobacterial mats in meltwater ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica were investigated. Depending on the geochemical and physical status of the sediments (i.e., frozen or thawed), as well as passage of sediment through a freeze-thaw cycle, terminal carbon and electron flow shifted in which the proportions of hydrogen and acetate utilized for methanogenesis and sulfate reduction changed. Thus, in low-sulfate (or chloride) sediment which was thawed and incubated at 4 degrees C, total carbon and electron flow were mediated by acetate-driven sulfate reduction and H(2)-driven methanogenesis. When the same sediments were incubated frozen, both methanogenesis and sulfate reduction decreased. However, under these conditions methanogenesis was favored over sulfate reduction, and carbon flow from acetate to methane increased relative to sulfate reduction; >70% of methane was contributed by acetate, and more than 80% of acetate was oxidized by pathways not coupled to sulfate reduction. In high-sulfate pond sediments, sulfate reduction was a major process mediating terminal carbon and electron flow in both unfrozen and frozen incubations. However, as with low-sulfate sediments, acetate oxidation became uncoupled from sulfate reduction with freezing. Geochemical and temperature effects could be expressed by linear models in which the log (methanogenesis to sulfate reduction) was negative log linear with respect to either temperature or the log of the sulfate (or chloride) concentration. From these relationships it was possible to predict the ratio for a given temperature (low-sulfate sediments) or sulfate (chloride) concentration. Small transitory changes, such as elevated sulfate reduction coupled to increased acetate turnover, resulted from application of a freeze-thaw cycle to low-salinity pond sediments. The results demonstrate how ecophysiological processes may change in anaerobic systems under extreme conditions (e.g., freezing) and provide new insights into microbial events occurring under these conditions.