Page 133 - Çevre Şehir ve İklim Dergisi - Sayı 3

ABSTRACT
Salda Lake, located in the northwest of Yeşilova district in Burdur province in Turkey, is a unique lake on Earth
that has geological, geochemical, and mineralogical similarities with the ancient lake environment consistent
with the evidence indicating it has existed in National Aeronautics Space Administration’s (NASA) Mars
2020 mission Perseverance Rover target area Jezero Crater (Garczynski et al., 2020). Microbialites, present
in Salda Lake, are the current representatives of fossils (3.5 billion years) containing the oldest life forms
known on Earth (Balci et al., 2018). These rare microbial structures are the archives that record the physical,
chemical, biological, and environmental characteristics of the environment in which they are found (Balci et
al., 208). Scientific research and development studies to be carried out to reveal the formation conditions and
mechanisms of Salda Lake microbialites and to reveal the fossil records of similar geologic environments will
produce significant data that can be usable and comparable not only on the origin and evolution of life on
Earth but also during the search for traces of possible past life in the ancient lake environment in Jezero Crater
on Mars (İnce et al., 2021). In this context, according to the metabarcoding results of molecular-based analyses
of the project “ Research and Development Project for Determination of the Microbial Ecology of Salda Lake
with Advanced Molecular Methods (Metabarcoding) and Mapping its Geomicrobiological Characteristics “
which is supported by Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and
carried out by Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and completed on December 15, 2021, it has been revealed
that Salda Lake is rich in microbial diversity, and Alphaproteobacteria class, which is very important for
microbial evolution, dominantly found in Salda Lake. Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity of Salda Lake
was determined in both summer and winter seasons, and gene sequences were obtained for patenting. Thus,
qualified microbial diversity data has been provided that is predicted to be comparable to NASA’s possible
biological trace research on Mars (İnce et al., 2021). Prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity data obtained from
microbial characterization studies carried out on new generation sequencing platforms are planned to be
published in international platforms, refereed scientific journals as original publications in 2023.
In the light of the data obtained within the scope of the project, this article includes, a general assessment of
the microbial ecology of Salda Lake, the general results obtained from molecular-based studies, and within
the framework of the holistic watershed management approach, our evaluations regarding the complete
control of all point and diffuse resources that produce pollution in the Salda Lake Water Collection Basin, the
preservation of the existing water quality of Salda Lake, precautions to protect Salda Lake to achieve this goal.
Keywords: Advanced molecular methods, Jezero Crater, Illumina Miseq, Mars, Metabarcoding, Microbial
ecology, Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Diversity, Salda Lake.

Makale Atıf Bilgisi: İnce, O., Uçan, H. A., vd. (2023). “Mars’dan Dünya’ya Olası Antik
Yaşamın İzleri: Salda Gölü Mikrobiyal Ekolojisi ve Korunması Üzerine
Değerlendirme”. Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi. Yıl: 2. Sayı: 3. ss. 116-130.
Makale Türü: Araştırma
Geliş Tarihi: 20.11.2022
Kabul Tarihi: 01.01.2023
Yayın Tarihi: 31.01.2023
Yayın Sezonu: Ocak 2023

118 Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi
Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma ve Çevre | Ocak 2023 | Sayı: 3