Surface snow samples of the different altitude and snow pits samples were collected from the Glacier No.1 at the ürümqi River Head, Tianshan. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were used to examine the diversity and its temporal\|spatial characteristics of eukaryotic microorganisms with different altitude and depth by combine the δ18O values. The results showed that the eukaryotic microorganisms belonged to four kingdoms: Viridiplantae, Fungi, Amoebozoa, and Alveolata. The algae was the dominant group, and all obtained sequences belonged to Chlamydomonadales. The diversity of eukaryotic microorganisms was negatively correlated with altitude and accumulated time, but positively correlated with the δ18O values. Those results indicated that the temperature was the main factor for the temporal\|spatial change, and the diversity of eukaryotic microorganisms could be a index for the climate and environment change.

 

issued by <<Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology>>