Environmental Control of Iron Reducing Microorganisms in Antarctic Sediments (ECIMAS)

This project aims to identify the environmental controls of iron reducing microorganisms in sediments situated close to Fourcade Glacier in Potter Cove, King George Island, in the Antarctic Peninsula. The samples were obtained during the Antarctic summer campaign to the Argentinian Carlini Base of the Island between January and March 2019. Samples were obtained using either push cores by SCUBA divers from the Argentinian Diving Division or with a sediment corer (UWITEC, Austria). For microbial community composition in the sediments, various sediment depths from the cores were collected aseptically and frozen at -80 degrees C until transport to the home laboratory (University of Bremen) where DNA extraction was carried out. Live samples were also stored at 2 degrees C (near in situ temperature) until transport to the home laboratory where they were used for incubation experiments. The uploaded sequence files support various research articles from this bioproject, detailing results of various analyses performed. The sequence data from incubation experiments support results testing specific environmental controls on iron reducing organisms such as temperature and organic matter quality. The sediment communities provide a snapshot of the indegenous microbial community composition and diversity in Potter Cove when the samples were obtained.