This week a pioneering study published in the Proceedings¹ of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and co-authored by Dr. Alison Murray and Dr. Christian² Fritsen of Nevada's Desert Research Institute (DRI) reveals, for the first time, a viable³ community of bacteria that survives and ekes⁴ out a living（勉强维持生活） in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated⁵ lakes. Lake Vida, the largest of several unique lakes found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, contains no oxygen, is mostly frozen and possesses the highest nitrous oxide⁶ levels of any natural water body on Earth. A briny⁷（咸的） liquid that is approximately six times saltier than seawater percolates⁸ throughout the icy environment that has an average temperature of minus 13.5 degrees centigrade (or 8 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

"This study provides a window into one of the most unique ecosystems⁹ on Earth," said Murray, the report's lead author, and molecular¹¹ microbial ecologist and polar researcher for the past 17 years, who has participated in 14 expeditions to the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continent. "Our knowledge of geochemical and microbial processes in lightless icy environments, especially at subzero temperatures, has been mostly unknown up until now. This work expands our understanding of the types of life that can survive in these isolated, cryoecosystems and how different strategies may be used to exist in such challenging environments."

 

Despite the very cold, dark and isolated nature of the habitat, the report finds that the brine harbors a surprisingly diverse and abundant assemblage of bacteria that survive without a present-day source of energy from the sun. Previous studies of Lake Vida dating back to 1996 indicate that the brine and its' inhabitants have been isolated from outside influences for more than 3,000 years.

 

Murray and her co-authors and collaborators, including the project's principal investigator¹² Dr. Peter Doran of the University of Illinois at Chicago, developed stringent¹³ protocols¹⁴ and specialized¹⁵ equipment for their 2005 and 2010 field campaigns to sample the lake brine（卤水，盐水） while avoiding contaminating the pristine¹⁶（原始的） ecosystem¹⁰.

 

To sample the unique environment researchers worked under secure, sterile¹⁷（贫瘠的） tents on the lake's surface to keep the site and equipment clean as they drilled ice cores, collected samples of the salty brine residing in the lake ice and then assessed the chemical qualities of the water and its potential for harboring and sustaining life, in addition to describing the diversity of the organisms detected.

 

Geochemical analyses suggest that chemical reactions between the brine and the underlying¹⁸ iron-rich sediments¹⁹ generate nitrous oxide and molecular hydrogen. The latter, in part, may provide the energy needed to support the brine's diverse microbial life.

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