Selected soil properties and bacterial abundance in the glacier forefields 'Black Valley Transect' and 'Glacier Transect' on Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica ...

• Main Authors: Bajerski, Felizitas, Wagner, Dirk
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas SPP1158; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Global warming; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.846890; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.846890

Antarctic glacier forefields are extreme environments and pioneer sites for ecological succession. Increasing temperatures due to global warming lead to enhanced deglaciation processes in cold-affected habitats, and new terrain is becoming exposed to soil formation and microbial colonization. However, only little is known about the impact of environmental changes on microbial communities and how they develop in connection to shifting habitat characteristics. In this study, using a combination of molecular and geochemical analysis, we determine the structure and development of bacterial communities depending on soil parameters in two different glacier forefields on Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica. Our results demonstrate that deglaciation-dependent habitat formation, resulting in a gradient in soil moisture, pH and conductivity, leads to an orderly bacterial succession for some groups, for example Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Deltaproteobacteria in a transect representing 'classical' glacier forefields. ... : Supplement to: Bajerski, Felizitas; Wagner, Dirk (2013): Bacterial succession in Antarctic soils of two glacier forefields on Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 85(1), 128-142 ...