page_title: Sea ice microbial communities
section_title: Sea ice matrix: chemical and physical properties
hierarchical_section_title: Sea ice microbial communities / Habitat / Sea ice matrix: chemical and physical properties
caption_attribution_description: English: Areas of thick snow cover reduce light availability below the ice and the ability of algae to grow
context_page_description: Sea Ice Microbial Communities refer to groups of microorganisms living within and at the interfaces of sea ice at the poles. The ice matrix they inhabit has strong vertical gradients of salinity, light, temperature and nutrients. Sea ice chemistry is most influenced by the salinity of the brine which affects the pH and the concentration of dissolved nutrients and gases. The brine formed during the melting sea ice creates pores and channels in the sea ice in which these microbes can live. As a result of these gradients and dynamic conditions, a higher abundance of microbes are found in the lower layer of the ice, although some are found in the middle and upper layers. Despite this extreme variability in environmental conditions, the taxonomical community composition tends to remain consistent throughout the year, until the ice melts.
  Much of the knowledge concerning the community diversity of the sea ice is known through genetic analyses and next-generation sequencing. In both the Arctic and Antarctic, Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Flavobacteriia are the common bacterial classes found.
caption: Algal and bacterial community beneath Antarctic sea ice.
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