Research and art-science projects

Complex individuality

Lichens serve as a powerful metaphor for our interconnected world, reflecting the relationships that define our societies. Lichens are composed of a symbiotic union between fungi and photosynthetic partners, two completely different organisms. They physically depend on each other in a similar way our world is woven together by countless interdependencies among people, ecosystems, and nations. Like the individual components of lichens, which rely on each other for survival, humanity and the natural world are bound together in a delicate balance. Alone is not an option. Here we explore lichens as a metaphor for connections through an art-science collaboration.

Collaboration with with Suzette Bousema, funded through the VU Connect World Societal Impact Award.

Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity patterns

Mosses, lichens and algae are Antarctica’s most important primary producers. They are also home (and food) to a range of organisms from different kingdoms, for instance bacteria (see also below), fungi, rotifers, nematodes, tardigrades, mites and springtails. The extent to which they differ in these communities is not well known. Understanding these differences is crucial for identifying Antarctic biodiversity hotspots and informing conservation strategies, especially as the continent faces increasing pressures from climate change and human activity

Bacterial communities of lichens and mosses, and nitrogen fixation in a warming climate

Climate warming in sub-Arctic regions leads to shifts in plant communities and retreating glaciers. Mosses and lichens contribute to important ecosystem processes in these environments, including nitrogen fixation via their microbiome. Here we assessed the extent to which long-term warming affects bacterial communities and nitrogen fixation associated with the lichen Cetraria islandica and the moss Racomitrium lanuginosum. These species are among the most common lichen and moss species in Iceland, respectively. We showed that long-term warming affects the structure and composition of the bacterial community associated with C. islandica and that this change is partly mediated via changes in the plant community. The same is true for the bacterial communities associated with R. lanuginosum, and the potential for nitrogen fixation is negatively affected by warming, potentially due to warming-induced decrease in nitrogen-fixing taxa.

Klarenberg, I.J., Keuschnig, C., Warshan, D., Jónsdóttir, I.S., Vilhelmsson, O. 2020. The Total and Active Bacterial Community of the Chlorolichen Cetraria islandica and Its Response to Long-Term Warming in Sub-Arctic Tundra, Frontiers in Microbiology 11 (3299)

Klarenberg, I.J., Keuschnig, C., Russi Colmenares, A.J., Warshan, D., Jungblut, A.D., Jónsdóttir, I.S. and Vilhelmsson, O. 2022. Long-term warming effects on the microbiome and nifH gene abundance of a common moss species in sub-Arctic tundra. New Phytologist, 234: 2044-2056

The second project was to evaluate the extent to which bacterial communities of two common Racomitrium species and the underlying soil as well as the moss-associated nitrogen fixation change during primary succession and whether these changes are related to changes in moss functional traits. Soil bacterial communities changed to a lesser extent with time since deglaciation than moss-associated bacterial communities. And both moss- and soil bacterial community structure were linked to moss functional traits.

Klarenberg, I.J., Keuschnig, C., Salazar, A., Benning, L.G., and Vilhelmsson, O. 2023. Moss and Underlying Soil Bacterial Community Structures are Linked to Moss Functional Traits Ecosphere 14(3): e4447

Publications

Klarenberg, I.J., Keuschnig, C., Salazar, A., Benning, L.G., Vilhelmsson, O. (2023) Moss and underlying soil bacterial community structures are linked to moss functional traits. Ecosphere 14 (3), https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4447

Hollister, R.D., Elphinstone, C., Henry, G.H., Bjorkman, A.D., Klanderud, K., Björk, R.G., Björkman, M.P., Bokhorst, S., Carbognani, M., Cooper, E.J., Dorrepaal, E., Elmendorf, S.C., Fetcher, N., Gallois, E.C., Guðmundsson, J., Healey, N.C., Jónsdóttir, I.S., Klarenberg, I.J., Oberbauer, S.F., Macek, P., May, J.L., Mereghetti, A.M., Molau, U., Petraglia, A., Rinnan, R., Rixen, C., Wookey, P.A. (2022) A review of open top chamber (OTC) performance across the ITEX Network. Arctic Science 9 (2), 331-334; https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2022-0030

Piatkowski, B.T., Carper, D.L., Carrell, A.C., Chen, I.A., Clum, A., Daum, C., Eloe-Fadrosh, E.A., Gilbert, D., Granath, G., Huntemann, M., Jawdy, S.S., Klarenberg, I.J., Kostka, J.E., Kyrpides, N.C., Lawrence, T.J., Mukherjee, S., Nilsson, M.B., Palaniappan, K., Pelletier, D.A., Pennacchio, C., Reddy, T.B.K., Roux, S., Shaw, A.J., Warshan, D., Živković, T., Weston, D.J. (2022) Draft metagenome sequences of the Sphagnum (Peat moss) microbiome from ambient and warmed environments across europe. Microbiology resource announcements 11 (10); https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00400-22

Klarenberg, I.J., Russi-Colmenares, A.J., Keuschnig, C., Warshan, D., Jungblut, A.D., Jónsdóttir, I.S., and O. Vilhelmsson (2022) Long-term warming effects on the microbiome and nifH gene abundance of a common moss species in sub-Arctic tundra. New Phytologist 234(6), 2044-2056; https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.17837

Kopacz, N., Csuka, J., Baqué, M., Iakubivskyi, I., Guðlaugardóttir, H., Klarenberg, I.J., Ahmed, M., Zetterlind, A., Singh, A., ten Kate, I.L., Hellebrand, E., Stockwell, B.R., Stefánsson, Á.B., Vilhelmsson, O., Neubeck, A., Schnürer, A., Geppert, W. (2022) A study in blue: secondary copper-rich minerals and their associated bacterial diversity in Icelandic lava tubes. Earth and Space Science 9 (5); https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EA002234

Klarenberg, I.J., Keuschnig, C., Warshan, D., Jónsdóttir, I.S. and O. Vilhelmsson (2020) The total and active bacterial community of the chlorolichen Cetraria islandica and its response to long-term warming in sub-Arctic tundra. Frontiers in Microbiology 11, 3299; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.540404

Gowers, G.F., Vince, O., Charles, J., Klarenberg, I., Ellis, T. and A. Edwards (2019) Entirely Off-Grid and Solar-Powered DNA Sequencing of Microbial Communities during an Ice Cap Traverse Expedition. Genes 2019, 10(11), 902; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110902