Expansion of shrubs could result in local loss of soil bacterial richness in Western Greenland

ABSTRACT Climate warming in Greenland is facilitating the expansion of shrubs across wide areas of tundra. Given the close association between plants and soil microorganisms and the important role of soil bacteria in ecosystem functioning, it is of utmost importance to characterize microbial communi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Main Authors: Canini, Fabiana, Zucconi, Laura, Coleine, Claudia, D'Alò, Federica, Onofri, Silvano, Geml, József
Other Authors: University of Tuscia, Aarhus University, Denmark, European Union H2020, Responses of alpine sensible ecosystems to climate changes
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2020
Subjects:
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Ecology
Microbiology
Arctic
Greenland
Tundra
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiaa089
http://academic.oup.com/femsec/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/femsec/fiaa089/33451596/fiaa089.pdf
http://academic.oup.com/femsec/article-pdf/96/8/fiaa089/33496372/fiaa089.pdf
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Summary:ABSTRACT Climate warming in Greenland is facilitating the expansion of shrubs across wide areas of tundra. Given the close association between plants and soil microorganisms and the important role of soil bacteria in ecosystem functioning, it is of utmost importance to characterize microbial communities of arctic soil habitats and assess the influence of plant edaphic factors on their composition. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicons to explore the bacterial assemblages of three different soil habitats representative of a plant coverage gradient: bare ground, biological soil crusts dominated by mosses and lichens and vascular vegetation dominated by shrubs. We investigated how bacterial richness and community composition were affected by the vegetation coverage, and soil pH, moisture and carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents. Bacterial richness did not correlate with plant coverage complexity, while community structure varied between habitats. Edaphic variables affected both the taxonomic richness and community composition. The high number of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) indicators of bare ground plots suggests a risk of local bacterial diversity loss due to expansion of vascular vegetation.

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