Dataset Information

Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra.

ABSTRACT: In the Arctic, environmental factors governing microbial degradation of soil carbon (C) in active layer and permafrost are poorly understood. Here we determined the functional potential of soil microbiomes horizontally and vertically across a cryoperturbed polygonal landscape in Alaska. With comparative metagenomics, genome binning of novel microbes, and gas flux measurements we show that microbial greenhouse gas (GHG) production is strongly correlated to landscape topography. Active layer and permafrost harbor contrasting microbiomes, with increasing amounts of Actinobacteria correlating with decreasing soil C in permafrost. While microbial functions such as fermentation and methanogenesis were dominant in wetter polygons, in drier polygons genes for C mineralization and CH4 oxidation were abundant. The active layer microbiome was poised to assimilate N and not to release N2O, reflecting low N2O flux measurements. These results provide mechanistic links of microbial metabolism to GHG fluxes that are needed for the refinement of model predictions.

SUBMITTER: Tas N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5823929 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra.

Taş Neslihan N Prestat Emmanuel E Wang Shi S Wu Yuxin Y Ulrich Craig C Kneafsey Timothy T Tringe Susannah G SG Torn Margaret S MS Hubbard Susan S SS Jansson Janet K JK

Nature communications 20180222 1

In the Arctic, environmental factors governing microbial degradation of soil carbon (C) in active layer and permafrost are poorly understood. Here we determined the functional potential of soil microbiomes horizontally and vertically across a cryoperturbed polygonal landscape in Alaska. With comparative metagenomics, genome binning of novel microbes, and gas flux measurements we show that microbial greenhouse gas (GHG) production is strongly correlated to landscape topography. Active layer and p ...[more]

PMID: 29472560

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Project description:Bacterial community composition is largely influenced by environmental factors, and this applies to the Arctic region. However, little is known about the role of spatial factors in structuring such communities. In this study, we evaluated the influence of spatial scale on bacterial community structure across an Arctic landscape. Our results showed that spatial factors accounted for approximately 10% of the variation at the landscape scale, equivalent to observations across the whole Arctic region, suggesting that while the role and magnitude of other processes involved in community structure may vary, the role of dispersal may be stable globally in the region. We assessed dispersal limitation by identifying the spatial autocorrelation distance, standing at approximately 60 m, which would be required in order to obtain fully independent samples and may inform future sampling strategies in the region. Finally, indicator taxa with strong statistical correlations with environment variables were identified. However, we showed that these strong taxa-environment associations may not always be reflected in the geographical distribution of these taxa.IMPORTANCE The significance of this study is threefold. It investigated the influence of spatial scale on the soil bacterial community composition across a typical Arctic landscape and demonstrated that conclusions reached when examining the influence of specific environmental variables on bacterial community composition are dependent upon the spatial scales over which they are investigated. This study identified a dispersal limitation (spatial autocorrelation) distance of approximately 60 m, required to obtain samples with fully independent bacterial communities, and therefore, should serve to inform future sampling strategies in the region and potentially elsewhere. The work also showed that strong taxa-environment statistical associations may not be reflected in the observed landscape distribution of the indicator taxa.

Dataset Information

Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra.

Publications

Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra.

Similar Datasets

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