Nutrient-limited subarctic caves harbour more diverse and complex bacterial communities than their surface soil.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Subarctic regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change, yet little is known about nutrient availability and biodiversity of their cave ecosystems. Such knowledge is crucial for predicting the vulnerability of these ecosystems to consequences of climate change. Thus, to improve our understanding of life in these habitats, we characterized environmental variables, as well as bacterial and invertebrate communities of six subarctic caves in Northern Norway.

Results

Only a minuscule diversity of surface-adapted invertebrates were found in these caves. However, the bacterial communities in caves were compositionally different, more diverse and more complex than the nutrient-richer surface soil. Cave soil microbiomes were less variable between caves than between

SUBMITTER: Reboleira AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9361705 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature