Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective
Summary The knowledge on dynamics of soil microbial activity and its correlation to climate and vegetation is still poor but essential for predicting climatic changes scenarios. Seasonal dynamics of soil microbial activity and cell counts were studied along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient. The...
Published in: | European Journal of Soil Science |
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x 2024-06-02T08:01:59+00:00 Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective Löffler, U. C. M. Cypionka, H. Löffler, J. 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2389.2008.01054.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x/fullpdf en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor European Journal of Soil Science volume 59, issue 5, page 842-854 ISSN 1351-0754 1365-2389 journal-article 2008 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x 2024-05-03T11:10:13Z Summary The knowledge on dynamics of soil microbial activity and its correlation to climate and vegetation is still poor but essential for predicting climatic changes scenarios. Seasonal dynamics of soil microbial activity and cell counts were studied along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient. The gradient comprised 12 ridges from 1000 to 1600 m altitude. Soil samples were collected during March, May, July and September 2005. The effect of temperature, snow depth and vegetation, all of which changed with altitude, on soil microbial activity and bacterial cell counts was analysed. The potential activities of phosphatase and chitinase were determined using fluorescent 4‐methylumbelliferyl labelled analogues. Total and live bacterial cell counts were determined by live‐dead‐staining. We detected marked differences in soil microbial variables along the altitudinal gradient, forming three major clusters: a low alpine belt, a middle alpine belt, and an intermediate transition zone. Our results demonstrated that more frequent occurrence of shrubs and bryophytes would also increase microbial activity. Furthermore, we detected a clear relation ( R 2 = 0.6; P < 0.02) between high soil temperatures and greater soil microbial activity during summer. As higher temperatures are predicted to promote shrubs and higher humidity to promote bryophytes we expect microbial activity in dry heath tundra soils will increase with anticipated warmer, and in the case of Scandinavia, more humid climates. We did not find winter microbial activity to be less at snow‐free sites than at sites covered by snow up to depths of 30 cm; hence, possible future decreases in snow depth will not result in reduced winter microbial activity. We demonstrate that shrubs support winter microbial activity not only by trapping snow but also directly by increasing the amount of organic carbon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Wiley Online Library Arctic European Journal of Soil Science 59 5 842 854 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Summary The knowledge on dynamics of soil microbial activity and its correlation to climate and vegetation is still poor but essential for predicting climatic changes scenarios. Seasonal dynamics of soil microbial activity and cell counts were studied along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient. The gradient comprised 12 ridges from 1000 to 1600 m altitude. Soil samples were collected during March, May, July and September 2005. The effect of temperature, snow depth and vegetation, all of which changed with altitude, on soil microbial activity and bacterial cell counts was analysed. The potential activities of phosphatase and chitinase were determined using fluorescent 4‐methylumbelliferyl labelled analogues. Total and live bacterial cell counts were determined by live‐dead‐staining. We detected marked differences in soil microbial variables along the altitudinal gradient, forming three major clusters: a low alpine belt, a middle alpine belt, and an intermediate transition zone. Our results demonstrated that more frequent occurrence of shrubs and bryophytes would also increase microbial activity. Furthermore, we detected a clear relation ( R 2 = 0.6; P < 0.02) between high soil temperatures and greater soil microbial activity during summer. As higher temperatures are predicted to promote shrubs and higher humidity to promote bryophytes we expect microbial activity in dry heath tundra soils will increase with anticipated warmer, and in the case of Scandinavia, more humid climates. We did not find winter microbial activity to be less at snow‐free sites than at sites covered by snow up to depths of 30 cm; hence, possible future decreases in snow depth will not result in reduced winter microbial activity. We demonstrate that shrubs support winter microbial activity not only by trapping snow but also directly by increasing the amount of organic carbon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Löffler, U. C. M. Cypionka, H. Löffler, J. |
spellingShingle |
Löffler, U. C. M. Cypionka, H. Löffler, J. Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
author_facet |
Löffler, U. C. M. Cypionka, H. Löffler, J. |
author_sort |
Löffler, U. C. M. |
title |
Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
title_short |
Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
title_full |
Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
title_fullStr |
Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
title_sort |
soil microbial activity along an arctic‐alpine altitudinal gradient from a seasonal perspective |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2389.2008.01054.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x/fullpdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
European Journal of Soil Science volume 59, issue 5, page 842-854 ISSN 1351-0754 1365-2389 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01054.x |
container_title |
European Journal of Soil Science |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
842 |
op_container_end_page |
854 |
_version_ |
1800746485952806912 |