Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica
Abstract Compared to the 1970s, the edge of the Ecology Glacier on King George Island, maritime Antarctica, is positioned more than 500 m inwards, exposing a large area of new terrain to soil-forming processes and periglacial climate for more than 40 years. To gain information on the state of soil f...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b368335298194620850d744ea5b8eb5e 2023-05-15T13:57:01+02:00 Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica Patryk Krauze Dirk Wagner Sizhong Yang Diogo Spinola Peter Kühn 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z https://doaj.org/article/b368335298194620850d744ea5b8eb5e EN eng Nature Portfolio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/b368335298194620850d744ea5b8eb5e Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021) Medicine R Science Q article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z 2022-12-31T05:27:59Z Abstract Compared to the 1970s, the edge of the Ecology Glacier on King George Island, maritime Antarctica, is positioned more than 500 m inwards, exposing a large area of new terrain to soil-forming processes and periglacial climate for more than 40 years. To gain information on the state of soil formation and its interplay with microbial activity, three hyperskeletic Cryosols (vegetation cover of 0–80%) deglaciated after 1979 in the foreland of the Ecology Glacier and a Cambic Cryosol (vegetation cover of 100%) distal to the lateral moraine deglaciated before 1956 were investigated by combining soil chemical and microbiological methods. In the upper part of all soils, a decrease in soil pH was observed, but only the Cambic Cryosol showed a clear direction of pedogenic and weathering processes, such as initial silicate weathering indicated by a decreasing Chemical Index of Alteration with depth. Differences in the development of these initial soils could be related to different microbial community compositions and vegetation coverage, despite the short distance among them. We observed—decreasing with depth—the highest bacterial abundances and microbial diversity at vegetated sites. Multiple clusters of abundant amplicon sequence variants were found depending on the site-specific characteristics as well as a distinct shift in the microbial community structure towards more similar communities at soil depths > 10 cm. In the foreland of the Ecology Glacier, the main soil-forming processes on a decadal timescale are acidification and accumulation of soil organic carbon and nitrogen, accompanied by changes in microbial abundances, microbial community compositions, and plant coverage, whereas quantifiable silicate weathering and the formation of pedogenic oxides occur on a centennial to a millennial timescale after deglaciation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica King George Island Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles King George Island Ecology Glacier ENVELOPE(-58.476,-58.476,-62.177,-62.177) Scientific Reports 11 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Patryk Krauze Dirk Wagner Sizhong Yang Diogo Spinola Peter Kühn Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Abstract Compared to the 1970s, the edge of the Ecology Glacier on King George Island, maritime Antarctica, is positioned more than 500 m inwards, exposing a large area of new terrain to soil-forming processes and periglacial climate for more than 40 years. To gain information on the state of soil formation and its interplay with microbial activity, three hyperskeletic Cryosols (vegetation cover of 0–80%) deglaciated after 1979 in the foreland of the Ecology Glacier and a Cambic Cryosol (vegetation cover of 100%) distal to the lateral moraine deglaciated before 1956 were investigated by combining soil chemical and microbiological methods. In the upper part of all soils, a decrease in soil pH was observed, but only the Cambic Cryosol showed a clear direction of pedogenic and weathering processes, such as initial silicate weathering indicated by a decreasing Chemical Index of Alteration with depth. Differences in the development of these initial soils could be related to different microbial community compositions and vegetation coverage, despite the short distance among them. We observed—decreasing with depth—the highest bacterial abundances and microbial diversity at vegetated sites. Multiple clusters of abundant amplicon sequence variants were found depending on the site-specific characteristics as well as a distinct shift in the microbial community structure towards more similar communities at soil depths > 10 cm. In the foreland of the Ecology Glacier, the main soil-forming processes on a decadal timescale are acidification and accumulation of soil organic carbon and nitrogen, accompanied by changes in microbial abundances, microbial community compositions, and plant coverage, whereas quantifiable silicate weathering and the formation of pedogenic oxides occur on a centennial to a millennial timescale after deglaciation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Patryk Krauze Dirk Wagner Sizhong Yang Diogo Spinola Peter Kühn |
author_facet |
Patryk Krauze Dirk Wagner Sizhong Yang Diogo Spinola Peter Kühn |
author_sort |
Patryk Krauze |
title |
Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
title_short |
Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
title_full |
Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica |
title_sort |
influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on king george island, maritime antarctica |
publisher |
Nature Portfolio |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z https://doaj.org/article/b368335298194620850d744ea5b8eb5e |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.476,-58.476,-62.177,-62.177) |
geographic |
King George Island Ecology Glacier |
geographic_facet |
King George Island Ecology Glacier |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica King George Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica King George Island |
op_source |
Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/b368335298194620850d744ea5b8eb5e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766264625458839552 |