Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:03:33.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Resolving environmental drivers of microbial community structure in Antarctic soils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2010

Julie L. Smith
Affiliation:
College of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958, USA
John E. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Gábor Tusnády
Affiliation:
Alfréd Rényi, Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Lídia Rejtö
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
S. Craig Cary*
Affiliation:
College of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958, USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author: caryc@udel.edu

Abstract

Antarctic soils are extremely cold, dry, and oligotrophic, yet harbour surprisingly high bacterial diversity. The severity of environmental conditions has constrained the development of multi-trophic communities, and species richness and distribution is thought to be driven primarily by abiotic factors. Sites in northern and southern Victoria Land were sampled for bacterial community structure and soil physicochemical properties in conjunction with the US and New Zealand Latitudinal Gradient Project. Bacterial community structure was determined using a high-resolution molecular fingerprinting method for 80 soil samples from Taylor Valley and Cape Hallett sites which are separated by five degrees of latitude and have distinct soil chemistry. Taylor Valley is part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, while Cape Hallett is the site of a penguin rookery and contains ornithogenic soils. The influence of soil moisture, pH, conductivity, ammonia, nitrate, total nitrogen and organic carbon on community structure was revealed using Spearman rank correlation, Mantel test, and principal components analysis. High spatial variability was detected in bacterial communities and community structure was correlated with soil moisture and pH. Both unique and shared bacterial community members were detected at Taylor Valley and Cape Hallett despite the considerable distance between the sites.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ah Tow, L. Cowan, D. 2005. Dissemination and survival of non-indigenous bacterial genomes in pristine Antarctic environments. Extremophiles, 9, 385389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aislabie, J., Jordan, S., Ayton, J., Klassen, J.L., Barker, G.M. Turner, S. 2009. Bacterial diversity associated with ornithogenic soil of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 55, 2136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aislabie, J.M., Jordan, S. Barker, G.M. 2008. Relation between soil classification and bacterial diversity in soils of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Geoderma, 144, 920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Gooseff, M.N. Takacs-Vesbach, C.D. 2009. Spatial variation in active-layer geochemistry across hydrologic margins in polar desert ecosystems. Hydrology and Earth System Science, 13, 23492358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Wall, D.H., Cary, S.C., Adams, B.J., Hacker, A.L. Aislabie, J.M. 2006a. Co-variation in soil biodiversity and biogeochemistry in northern and southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 18, 535548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Hopkins, D.W., Aislabie, J., Bargagli, R., Bockheim, J.G., Campbell, I.B., Lyons, W.B., Moorhead, D.L., Nkem, J.N., Sletten, R.S., Steltzer, H., Wall, D.H. Wallenstein, M.D. 2006b. Terrestrial ecosystem processes of Victoria Land, Antarctica. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 30193034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billi, D. Potts, M. 2002. Life and death of dried prokaryotes. Research in Microbiology, 153, 712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booth, I.R. 1985. Regulation of cytoplasmic pH in bacteria. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 49, 359378.Google ScholarPubMed
Broady, P.A. 1996. Diversity, distribution and dispersal of Antarctic terrestrial algae. Biodiversity and Conservation, 5, 13071335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broady, P.A. Weinstein, R.N. 1998. Algae, lichens and fungi in La Gorce Mountains, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 10, 376385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkins, M.B., Virginia, R.A., Chamberlain, C.P. Wall, D.H. 2000. Origin and distribution of soil organic matter in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Ecology, 81, 23772391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, I.B. Claridge, G.G.C. 1982. The influence of moisture on the development of soils of the cold deserts of Antarctica. Geoderma, 28, 221238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cardinale, M., Brusetti, L., Quatrini, P., Borin, S., Puglia, A.M., Rizzi, A., Zanardini, E., Sorlini, C., Corselli, C. Daffonchio, D. 2004. Comparison of different primer sets for use in automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis of complex bacterial communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 70, 61476156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cary, S.C., McDonald, I.R., Barrett, J.E. Cowan, D.A. 2010. On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8, 129138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, K.R. 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Austral Ecology, 18, 117143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. Gorley, R.N. 2006. PRIMER v6: User manual. Plymouth, UK: Plymouth Marine Laboratory.Google Scholar
Dietz, E.J. 1983. Permutation tests for association between two distance matrices. Systematic Zoology, 32, 2126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D., Dana, G.L., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T. Lyons, W.B. 2002. Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, 47724784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duphorn, K. 1981. Physiographical and glaciogeological observations in north Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geologische Jahrbuch, B41, 89109.Google Scholar
Fierer, N. Jackson, R.B. 2006. The diversity and biogeography of soil bacterial communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 626631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, M.M. Triplett, E.W. 1999. Automated approach for ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis of microbial diversity and its application to freshwater bacterial communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 65, 46304636.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuhrman, J.A., Hewson, I., Schwalbach, M.S., Steele, J.A., Brown, M.V. Naeem, S. 2006. Annually reoccurring bacterial communities are predictable from ocean conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 13 10413 109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gower, J.C. 1971. A general coefficient of similarity and some of its properties. Biometrics, 27, 857871.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J.L., Holmes, A.J., Westoby, M., Oliver, I., Briscoe, D., Dangerfield, M., Gillings, M. Beattie, A.J. 2004. Spatial scaling of microbial eukaryote diversity. Nature, 432, 747750.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hewson, I. Fuhrman, J. 2006. Improved strategy for comparing microbial assemblage fingerprints. Microbial Ecology, 51, 147153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hogg, I.D., Craig Cary, S., Convey, P., Newsham, K.K., O’Donnell, A.G., Adams, B.J., Aislabie, J., Frati, F., Stevens, M.I. Wall, D.H. 2006. Biotic interactions in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: are they a factor? Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 30353040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Peterson, D., Lyons, W.B., Cattaneo-Vietti, R. Gordon, S. 2006. Measuring ecosystem response in a rapidly changing environment: the Latitudinal Gradient Project. Antarctic Science, 18, 465471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, A.D. 1993. Water as a limiting factor in the Antarctic terrestrial environment: a biogeographical synthesis. Arctic and Alpine Research, 25, 308315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legendre, P. Legendre, L. 1998. Numerical ecology. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 853 pp.Google Scholar
Madigan, M.T. Martinko, J.M. 2006. Brock biology of microorganisms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 992 pp.Google Scholar
Michalski, G., Bockheim, J.G., Kendall, C. Thiemens, M. 2005. Isotopic composition of Antarctic Dry Valley nitrate: implications for NOy sources and cycling in Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niederberger, T.D., McDonald, I.R., Hacker, A.L., Soo, R.M., Barrett, J.E., Wall, D.H. Cary, S.C. 2008. Microbial community composition in soils of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Environmental Microbiology, 10, 17131724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nocker, A., Burr, M. Camper, A. 2007. Genotypic microbial community profiling: a critical technical review. Microbial Ecology, 54, 276289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Padan, E., Zilberstein, D. Schuldiner, S. 1981. pH homeostasis in bacteria. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Biomembranes, 650, 151166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J.J., Tow, L., Stafford, W., Cary, C. Cowan, D.A. 2006. Bacterial diversity in three different Antarctic cold desert mineral soils. Microbial Ecology, 51, 19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Treonis, A.M., Wall, D.H. Virginia, R.A. 1999. Invertebrate biodiversity in Antarctic Dry Valley soils and sediments. Ecosystems, 2, 482492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ugolini, F.C. Bockheim, J.G. 2008. Antarctic soils and soil formation in a changing environment: a review. Geoderma, 144, 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall, D.H. Virginia, R.A. 1999. Controls on soil biodiversity: insights from extreme environments. Applied Soil Ecology, 13, 137150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitman, W.B., Coleman, D.C. Wiebe, W.J. 1998. Prokaryotes: the unseen majority. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 65786583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yergeau, E., Newsham, K.K., Pearce, D.A. Kowalchuk, G.A. 2007. Patterns of bacterial diversity across a range of Antarctic terrestrial habitats. Environmental Microbiology, 9, 26702682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed