Seasonality in land-ocean connectivity and local processes control sediment bacterial community structure and function in a High Arctic tidal flat.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is altering patterns of precipitation, cryosphere thaw, and land-ocean influxes, affecting understudied Arctic estuarine tidal flats. These transitional zones between terrestrial and marine systems are hotspots for biogeochemical cycling, often driven by microbial processes. We investigated surface sediment bacterial community composition and function from May to September along a river-intertidal-subtidal-fjord gradient. We paired metabarcoding of in situ communities with in vitro carbon-source utilization assays. Bacterial communities differed in space and time, alongside varying environmental conditions driven by local seasonal processes and riverine inputs, with salinity emerging as the dominant structuring factor. Terrestrial and riverine taxa were found throughout the

SUBMITTER: Handler ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10799726 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature