We studied the fluorescence properties of fulvic acids isolated from streams and rivers receiving predominantly terrestrial sources of organic material and from lakes with microbial sources of organic material. Microbially derived fulvic acids have fluorophores with a more sharply defined emission peak occurring at lower wavelengths than fluorophores in terrestrially derived fulvic acids. We show that the ratio of the emission intensity at a wavelength of 450 nm to that at 500 nm, obtained with an excitation of 370 nm, can serve as a simple index to distinguish sources of isolated aquatic fulvic acids. In our study, this index has a value of ϳ1.9 for microbially derived fulvic acids and a value of ϳ1.4 for terrestrially derived fulvic acids. Fulvic acids isolated from four large rivers in the United States have fluorescence index values of 1.4-1.5, consistent with predominantly terrestrial sources. For fulvic acid samples isolated from a river, lakes, and groundwaters in a forested watershed, the fluorescence index varied in a manner suggesting different sources for the seepage and streamfed lakes. Furthermore, we identified these distinctive fluorophores in filtered whole water samples from lakes in a desert oasis in Antarctica and in filtered whole water samples collected during snowmelt from a Rocky Mountain stream. The fluorescence index measurement in filtered whole water samples in field studies may augment the interpretation of dissolved organic carbon sources for understanding carbon cycling in aquatic ecosystems.Aquatic fulvic acid is a major fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in natural waters. Aquatic fulvic acids are heterogeneous, moderate molecular weight, yellow-colored organic acids. Examples of processes controlled by fulvic acid are (1) chemical speciation and transport of trace metals through complexation reactions (e.g., Breault et al. 1996); (2) formation of trihalomethanes in drinking water by interactions between chlorine and fulvic acid during water AcknowledgmentsWe thank K. Cunningham for help with spectroscopic methods and G. Aiken, J. Debroux, P. Coble, and four anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript.

The Atacama along the Pacific Coast of Chile and Peru is one of the driest and possibly oldest deserts in the world. It represents an extreme habitat for life on Earth and is an analog for life in dry conditions on Mars. We report on four years (September 1994-October 1998) of climate and moisture data from the extreme arid region of the Atacama. Our data are focused on understanding moisture sources and their role in creating suitable environments for photosynthetic microorganisms in the desert surface. The average air temperature was 16.5 degrees C and 16.6 degrees C in 1995 and 1996, respectively. The maximum air temperature recorded was 37.9 degrees C, and the minimum was -5.7 degrees C. Annual average sunlight was 336 and 335 W m(-2) in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Winds averaged a few meters per second, with strong föhn winds coming from the west exceeding 12 m s(-1). During our 4 years of observation there was only one significant rain event of 2.3 mm, which occurred near midnight local time. We suggest that this event was a rainout of a heavy fog. It is of interest that the strong El Niño of 1997-1998 brought heavy rainfall to the deserts of Peru, but did not bring significant rain to the central Atacama in Chile. Dew occurred at our station frequently following high nighttime relative humidity, but is not a significant source of moisture in the soil or under stones. Groundwater also does not contribute to surface moisture. Only the one rain event of 2.3 mm resulted in liquid water in the soil and beneath stones for a total of only 65-85 h over 4 years. The paucity of liquid water under stones is consistent with the apparent absence of hypolithic (under-stone) cyanobacteria, the only known primary producers in such extreme deserts.

Lake Untersee is one of the largest (11.4 km(2)) and deepest (>160 m) freshwater lakes in East Antarctica. Located at 71°S the lake has a perennial ice cover, a water column that, with the exception of a small anoxic basin in the southwest of the lake, is well mixed, supersaturated with dissolved oxygen, alkaline (pH 10.4) and exceedingly clear. The floor of the lake is covered with photosynthetic microbial mats to depths of at least 100 m. These mats are primarily composed of filamentous cyanophytes and form two distinct macroscopic structures, one of which--cm-scale cuspate pinnacles dominated by Leptolyngbya spp.--is common in Antarctica, but the second--laminated, conical stromatolites that rise up to 0.5 m above the lake floor, dominated by Phormidium spp.--has not previously been reported in any modern environment. The laminae that form the conical stromatolites are 0.2-0.8 mm in thickness consisting of fine clays and organic material; carbon dating implies that laminations may occur on near decadal timescales. The uniformly steep sides (59.6 ± 2.5°) and the regular laminar structure of the cones suggest that they may provide a modern analog for growth of some of the oldest well-described Archean stromatolites. Mechanisms underlying the formation of these stromatolites are as yet unclear, but their growth is distinct from that of the cuspate pinnacles. The sympatric occurrence of pinnacles and cones related to microbial communities with distinct cyanobacterial compositions suggest that specific microbial behaviors underpin the morphological differences in the structures.

The springs at Gypsum Hill and Colour Peak on Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian Arctic originate from deep salt aquifers and are among the few known examples of cold springs in thick permafrost on Earth. The springs discharge cold anoxic brines (7.5 to 15.8% salts), with a mean oxidoreduction potential of ؊325 mV, and contain high concentrations of sulfate and sulfide. We surveyed the microbial diversity in the sediments of seven springs by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and analyzing clone libraries of 16S rRNA genes amplified with Bacteria and Archaea-specific primers. Dendrogram analysis of the DGGE banding patterns divided the springs into two clusters based on their geographic origin. Bacterial 16S rRNA clone sequences from the Gypsum Hill library (spring GH-4) were classified into seven phyla (Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, and Verrucomicrobia); Deltaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria sequences represented half of the clone library. Sequences related to Proteobacteria (82%), Firmicutes (9%), and Bacteroidetes (6%) constituted 97% of the bacterial clone library from Colour Peak (spring CP-1). Most GH-4 archaeal clone sequences (79%) were related to the Crenarchaeota while half of the CP-1 sequences were related to orders Halobacteriales and Methanosarcinales of the Euryarchaeota. Sequences related to the sulfur-oxidizing bacterium Thiomicrospira psychrophila dominated both the GH-4 (19%) and CP-1 (45%) bacterial libraries, and 56 to 76% of the bacterial sequences were from potential sulfur-metabolizing bacteria. These results suggest that the utilization and cycling of sulfur compounds may play a major role in the energy production and maintenance of microbial communities in these unique, cold environments.

No abstract