High bacterial diversity of biological soil crusts in water tracks over permafrost in the high arctic polar desert.

ABSTRACT: In this study we report the bacterial diversity of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) inhabiting polar desert soils at the northern land limit of the Arctic polar region (83° 05 N). Employing pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes this study demonstrated that these biocrusts harbor diverse bacterial communities, often as diverse as temperate latitude communities. The effect of wetting pulses on the composition of communities was also determined by collecting samples from soils outside and inside of permafrost water tracks, hill slope flow paths that drain permafrost-affected soils. The intermittent flow regime in the water tracks was correlated with altered relative abundance of phylum level taxonomic bins in the bacterial communities, but the alterations varied between individual samp

SUBMITTER: Steven B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3742766 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature