Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland
Permafrost-affected soils in the Northern latitudes store huge amounts of organic carbon (OC) that is prone to microbial degradation and subsequent release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In Greenland, the consequences of permafrost thaw have only recently been addressed, and predictions on i...
Published in: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 https://doaj.org/article/839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 2023-05-15T16:26:37+02:00 Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland Antje eGittel Jiri eBarta Iva eLacmanova Joerg eSchnecker Birgit eWild Petr eCapek Christina eKaiser Vigdis eTorsvik Andreas eRichter Christa eSchleper Tim eUrich 2014-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 https://doaj.org/article/839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 https://doaj.org/article/839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 5 (2014) Climate Change Greenland microbial communities extracellular enzyme activities permafrost-affected soils Microbiology QR1-502 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 2022-12-31T12:21:10Z Permafrost-affected soils in the Northern latitudes store huge amounts of organic carbon (OC) that is prone to microbial degradation and subsequent release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In Greenland, the consequences of permafrost thaw have only recently been addressed, and predictions on its impact on the carbon budget are thus still highly uncertain. However, the fate of OC is not only determined by abiotic factors, but closely tied to microbial activity. We investigated eight soil profiles in northeast Greenland comprising two sites with typical tundra vegetation and one wet fen site. We assessed microbial community structure and diversity (SSU rRNA gene tag sequencing, quantification of bacteria, archaea and fungi), and measured hydrolytic and oxidative enzyme activities. Sampling site and thus abiotic factors had a significant impact on microbial community structure, diversity and activity, the wet fen site exhibiting higher potential enzyme activities and presumably being a hot spot for anaerobic degradation processes such as fermentation and methanogenesis. Lowest fungal to bacterial ratios were found in topsoils that had been relocated by cryoturbation (buried topsoils), resulting from a decrease in fungal abundance compared to recent (unburied) topsoils. Actinobacteria (in particular Intrasporangiaceae) accounted for a major fraction of the microbial community in buried topsoils, but were only of minor abundance in all other soil horizons. It was indicated that the distribution pattern of Actinobacteria and a variety of other bacterial classes was related to the activity of phenol oxidases and peroxidases supporting the hypothesis that bacteria might resume the role of fungi in oxidative enzyme production and degradation of phenolic and other complex substrates in these soils. Our study sheds light on the highly diverse, but poorly-studied communities in permafrost-affected soils in Greenland and their role in OC degradation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland permafrost Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Frontiers in Microbiology 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate Change Greenland microbial communities extracellular enzyme activities permafrost-affected soils Microbiology QR1-502 |
spellingShingle |
Climate Change Greenland microbial communities extracellular enzyme activities permafrost-affected soils Microbiology QR1-502 Antje eGittel Jiri eBarta Iva eLacmanova Joerg eSchnecker Birgit eWild Petr eCapek Christina eKaiser Vigdis eTorsvik Andreas eRichter Christa eSchleper Tim eUrich Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
topic_facet |
Climate Change Greenland microbial communities extracellular enzyme activities permafrost-affected soils Microbiology QR1-502 |
description |
Permafrost-affected soils in the Northern latitudes store huge amounts of organic carbon (OC) that is prone to microbial degradation and subsequent release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In Greenland, the consequences of permafrost thaw have only recently been addressed, and predictions on its impact on the carbon budget are thus still highly uncertain. However, the fate of OC is not only determined by abiotic factors, but closely tied to microbial activity. We investigated eight soil profiles in northeast Greenland comprising two sites with typical tundra vegetation and one wet fen site. We assessed microbial community structure and diversity (SSU rRNA gene tag sequencing, quantification of bacteria, archaea and fungi), and measured hydrolytic and oxidative enzyme activities. Sampling site and thus abiotic factors had a significant impact on microbial community structure, diversity and activity, the wet fen site exhibiting higher potential enzyme activities and presumably being a hot spot for anaerobic degradation processes such as fermentation and methanogenesis. Lowest fungal to bacterial ratios were found in topsoils that had been relocated by cryoturbation (buried topsoils), resulting from a decrease in fungal abundance compared to recent (unburied) topsoils. Actinobacteria (in particular Intrasporangiaceae) accounted for a major fraction of the microbial community in buried topsoils, but were only of minor abundance in all other soil horizons. It was indicated that the distribution pattern of Actinobacteria and a variety of other bacterial classes was related to the activity of phenol oxidases and peroxidases supporting the hypothesis that bacteria might resume the role of fungi in oxidative enzyme production and degradation of phenolic and other complex substrates in these soils. Our study sheds light on the highly diverse, but poorly-studied communities in permafrost-affected soils in Greenland and their role in OC degradation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Antje eGittel Jiri eBarta Iva eLacmanova Joerg eSchnecker Birgit eWild Petr eCapek Christina eKaiser Vigdis eTorsvik Andreas eRichter Christa eSchleper Tim eUrich |
author_facet |
Antje eGittel Jiri eBarta Iva eLacmanova Joerg eSchnecker Birgit eWild Petr eCapek Christina eKaiser Vigdis eTorsvik Andreas eRichter Christa eSchleper Tim eUrich |
author_sort |
Antje eGittel |
title |
Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
title_short |
Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
title_full |
Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of Greenland |
title_sort |
site- and horizon-specific patterns of microbial community structure and enzyme activities in permafrost-affected soils of greenland |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 https://doaj.org/article/839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
Greenland permafrost Tundra |
op_source |
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 5 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-302X 1664-302X doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 https://doaj.org/article/839f172c9d6a48e89fc8064204ec0343 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00541 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Microbiology |
container_volume |
5 |
_version_ |
1766015548060073984 |