Abstract:

Ongoing experimental and field studies have demonstrated the varied role of microbial exopolymeric substances for the sea ice system. These roles include a dynamic participation in the organic carbon budget, a means of extracellular cryoprotection, attachment to sea ice and to manipulate the sea ice habitat.
Cumulative effects on the micro-scale translate to bulk properties of sea ice including its salt content, crystal structure and mechanical and thermal properties. EPS is therefore an effective and metabolically inexpensive means to modify habitat properties colonized by sea ice diatoms. Our results therefore point to a potentially very important feedback link between sea ice biology, and sea ice physics.
We attempt to provide a conceptual model synthesizing these results to provide a better conceptual model framework to promote a discussion on how EPS could be effectively included into our conventional view of sea ice as a habitat and its role in biogeochemical processes. Poster download