Academic Seminar of the ANSO Collaborative Research Project Undertaken by ITPCAS Successfully Held

Effect of climate change on potential pathogenic risks

06 01, 2023

The academic seminar of ANSO Collaborative Research Project entitled "Effect of climate change on potential pathogenic risks in the cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau and polar regions” was successfully held online on November 9th, 2022. The discussion forum was moderated by Dr. LIU Yongqin from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS). Twenty-two scholars from Bergen University (Norway), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of British Columbia (Canada), Lanzhou University and ITPCAS joined the meeting.

Under the framework of ANSO, this project combines the advantages of various parties to study the distribution and potential risks of microorganisms in glaciers and permafrost ecosystems at three-pole regions. Principal investigator LIU Yongqin chaired the meeting. During the meeting, twelve scholars presented their latest research. Firstly, the distribution of microorganisms in glaciers and permafrost ecosystems at three-pole regions was discussed. It was found that the dispersal limitation was the main factor leading to the difference in algal and fungal communities between the Antarctic and Tibetan Plateau glaciers. However, the composition of bacterial communities showed high similarity, which was caused by environmental filtration environmental filtering. Dissolved organic matter (DOM), as an important active chemical component in the ecosystem, also showed similar results to the distribution of bacteria, indicating that DOM in the glacier was mainly from the secretion of bacteria. The meeting also focused on the potential risk factors in glaciers ——viruses and pathogenic antibiotic resistant bacteria (PARB). The host of glacier virus is mainly bacteria, which is less harmful to human health. Potential PARB were detected in all three-pole glaciers. Potential PARB may release to downstream ecosystems upon glacier melting caused by global warming, and thus need to be carefully monitored.

This conference is the second workshop of the project. Experts and scholars on microorganisms of the three poles gathered to share the research progress and future expectations of cryosphere microbiology, promoted collaborative research of the frontier knowledge of the three poles cryosphere, and laid the foundation for exploring new findings in this field.

Source: WU Zhenzhe, Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment of Lanzhou University (120220907541@lzu.edu.cn)