Imagine, if you will, an ancient
lake vibrant with life. Trees and plants around the fertile waters grow to
mammoth proportions. The environment is idyllic. However, as tectonic plates
shift and the weather grows colder the lake, with its flora and fauna must now
endure artic temperatures. A glacier
forms, sealing the lake from the outside world. Volcanic thermals leak heat and
salt into the once tepid waters, keeping them liquid. For millennia the lake
exists on, buried under ice, until 2012 when Russian researchers pieced the ice
cap over the waters.
Lake Vostok is a fresh water
sub-glacial lake in Antarctica. It lies 2.2 miles beneath 20 million year old
ice. The lake itself is believed to be a sealed environment and it is formed in
proximity to geothermal activity. This geothermal activity has likely provided
what little nutrients available in Lake Vostok. Hoping to find life, researchers looked for
nuclides sequences. Indeed, the DNA and RNA present in the samples included
viral, bacterial and eukaryotic genetic material. Sequencing of ice and water samples revealed
not only the presence of bacteria in Lake Vostok but suggested the possibility
of more complex, multicellular life forms. The research team found E.coli and members of Salmonella. The species found “often
have symbiotic or parasitic relationships with their eukaryotic host, which
include fish and annelids” (Buried Lake
Vostok). The waters of Lake Vostok are “filled with a microscopic menagerie.
Some needed oxygen-rich environments while others did well in oxygen-poor ones.
Some liked extremely salty spots, some thrived in extremely cold places and
some preferred the extreme heat. Some liked highly alkaline environments while
others liked the opposite -- highly acidic ones.”(Trapped in Antarctic ice) The
extreme environmental pressures the critters of Lake Vostok face and the
isolation from its planet’s environment is not unlike the conditions at the
bottom of similar glaciers found on Mars and Jupiter’s Europa. Understanding
the systems of that allow biota to thrive in isolation may will aid in our
understanding of Genus and the terraformation of planets. Given the capacity of
life on our own planet, Martian ice fishing doesn’t seem as improbable as it did a few minutes ago.
When first tapped in March of 2012
the waters of Lake Vostok were said to contain previously undiscovered life.
The revelation had to be redacted after it was discovered that the drilling
procedure resulted in contamination. Given the diversity of life found in the
second sample is mostly likely pure.
However, we should not discount the effects of contamination. Given the
tenacity of bacterial spores and glacial movement the waters may have been inoculated
after the formation of glaciers. The hope of finding a new life form in Lake
Vostok is not without merit, the presence of host bacteria indicates a host.
Multicellular critters or not new morphologies and mutation may exist among the
biota.
Lake Vostok is one of 400 sub
glacial lakes known to exist beneath the ice. Isolated lakes like these can be
found beneath glaciers worldwide. They can also be considered fossilized
aquifers, pockets of water trapped by the surrounding geology. It becomes
important to understand the biological dangers the ancient biota may pose.
Climate studies indicate rising global temperatures. Advances in drilling could
relieve water shortages in arid climates. As fossil aquifers have the
possibility to become exposed so do the biota they carry. Mutations shared
between bacterial colonies have the potential to become pathogenic. While it is
unlikely that the isolated Lake Vostok would become cite zero for a world-wide
contagion, it is wise to always be mindful when handling such encounters.
Contaminating one’s sample is not always the worst thing that can happen.
Why is Lake Vostok important? The
lake can help our understanding of ecosystems.
If fish are found to be present in the lake it will further our
curiosity as to the limits of life; specifically where life can exist and the
environmental mechanisms involved. In
1991 an experiment took place in southern Arizona. Bio dome 2 is the site of an
ecological laboratory. It is designed to house a virtually independent ecosystem
from soil to planets to animals. While the facility provided and continues to
provide excellent data, it’s a technical marvel. The discovery of natural
biospheres seems to confirm the probability of microsystems. With study, we can
improve our technology and efficiency of these systems. This becomes especially
helpful in space travel or should our planet’s environment change rapidly.
Works Cited
1. Trapped
in Antarctic ice, Lake Vostok may teem with life http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-lake-vostok-antarctica-ice-glacier-life-bacteria-20130708,0,148031.story
2. Buried Lake Vostok May Support a thriving Ecosystem two
miles beneath the surface http://www.geekosystem.com/vostok-may-support-life/
Further readings:
Sub
glacial Lake Vostok (Antarctica) Accretion Ice Contains a Diverse Set of
Sequences from Aquatic, Marine and Sediment-Inhabiting Bacteria and Eukarya
