Antarctic Ardley Island terrace — An ideal place to study the marine to terrestrial succession of microbial communities

• Published in: Frontiers in Microbiology
• Main Authors: Potjanicha Nopnakorn, Yumin Zhang, Lin Yang, Fang Peng
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
• Subjects: Ardley Island terrace; soil-borne microbial community; maritime Antarctica; amplicon sequencing; marine to terrestrial succession; Microbiology; QR1-502; Antarctic; Ardley; Ardley Island; Fildes; Fildes peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.942428; https://doaj.org/article/5c4c6c5fe6a0405ca4bf5ffdf967b431

The study of chronosequences is an effective tool to study the effects of environmental changes or disturbances on microbial community structures, diversity, and the functional properties of ecosystems. Here, we conduct a chronosequence study on the Ardley Island coastal terrace of the Fildes Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica. The results revealed that prokaryotic microorganism communities changed orderly among the six successional stages. Some marine microbial groups could still be found in near-coastal soils of the late stage (lowest stratum). Animal pathogenic bacteria and stress-resistant microorganisms occurred at the greatest level with the longest succession period. The main driving factors for the succession of bacteria, archaea, and fungi along Ardley Island terrace were found through Adonis analysis (PERMANOVA). During analysis, soil elements Mg, Si, and Na were related to the bacterial and archaeal community structure discrepancies, while Al, Ti, K, and Cl were related to the fungal community structure discrepancies. On the other hand, other environmental factors also play an important role in the succession of microbial communities, which could be different among each microorganism. The succession of bacterial communities is greatly affected by pH and water content; archaeal communities are greatly affected by NH4+; fungal communities are affected by nutrients such as NO3−. In the analysis of the characteristic microorganisms along terrace, the succession of microorganisms was found to be influenced by complex and comprehensive factors. For instance, environmental instability, relationship with plants and ecological niches, and environmental tolerance. The results found that budding reproduction and/or with filamentous appendages bacteria were enriched in the late stage, which might be connected to its tolerance to rapid changes and barren environments. In addition, the decline in ammonia oxidation capacity of Thaumarchaeota archaeade with succession and the evolution of the fungi-plant relationship ...