Permafrost Active Layer Microbes From Ny Ålesund, Svalbard (79°N) Show Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Metabolisms With Diverse Carbon-Degrading Enzymes ...

• Main Authors: Sipes, Katie, Paul, Raegan, Fine, Aubrey, Li, Peibo, Liang, Renxing, Boike, Julia, Onstott, Tullis, Vishnivetskaya, Tatiana A., Schaeffer, Sean, Lloyd, Karen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2022
• Subjects: Svalbard; permafrost; active layer; carbon; nitrogen; metagenome; cultures; enzymes; 551 Geologie, Hydrologie, Meteorologie; glacier; Ny Ålesund; Ny-Ålesund
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18452/24432; https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/25086

The active layer of permafrost in Ny Ålesund, Svalbard (79°N) around the Bayelva River in the Leirhaugen glacier moraine is measured as a small net carbon sink at the brink of becoming a carbon source. In many permafrost-dominating ecosystems, microbes in the active layers have been shown to drive organic matter degradation and greenhouse gas production, creating positive feedback on climate change. However, the microbial metabolisms linking the environmental geochemical processes and the populations that perform them have not been fully characterized. In this paper, we present geochemical, enzymatic, and isotopic data paired with 10 Pseudomonas sp. cultures and metagenomic libraries of two active layer soil cores (BPF1 and BPF2) from Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, (79°N). Relative to BPF1, BPF2 had statistically higher C/N ratios (15 ± 1 for BPF1 vs. 29 ± 10 for BPF2; n = 30, p < 10–5), statistically lower organic carbon (2% ± 0.6% for BPF1 vs. 1.6% ± 0.4% for BPF2, p < 0.02), statistically lower nitrogen ...