Atmospheric transport is critical to dispersal of microorganisms between habitats, and this underpins resilience in terrestrial and marine ecosystems globally. A key unresolved question is whether microorganisms assemble to form a taxonomically distinct, geographically variable, and functionally adapted atmospheric microbiota. This question is made more complex by the unique challenges of separating potential contaminants from atmospheric signal, particularly given the ultra-low biomass of air and the long durations of sampling where contamination may occur. Here we adopted a comprehensive data filtering approach to mitigate contamination and characterise inter-continental patterns of microbial taxonomic and functional diversity in air within and above the atmospheric boundary layer and in underlying soils for 596 globally sourced samples. Bacterial and fungal assemblages in air were taxonomically structured and deviated significantly from purely stochastic assembly. Patterns differed with location and reflected climate, underlying surface cover and environmental filtering. Source-tracking indicated a complex recruitment process involving local soils plus globally distributed inputs from drylands and the phyllosphere. Assemblages displayed stress-response and metabolic traits relevant to survival in air, and taxonomic and functional diversity were correlated with macroclimate and atmospheric variables. Our findings highlight complexity in the atmospheric microbiota that is key to understanding regional and global ecosystem connectivity.
Accurate and cost-effective methods for tracking changes in arthropod communities are needed to develop integrative environmental monitoring programs in the Arctic. To date, even baseline data on their species composition at established ecological monitoring sites are severely lacking. We present the results of a pilot assessment of non-marine arthropod diversity in a middle arctic tundra area near Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), Victoria Island, Nunavut, undertaken in 2018 using DNA barcodes. A total of 1264 Barcode Index Number (BIN) clusters, used as a proxy for species, were recorded. The efficacy of widely used sampling methods was assessed. Yellow pan traps captured 62% of the entire BIN diversity at the study sites. When complemented with soil and leaf litter sifting, the coverage rose up to 74.6%. Combining community-based data collection with high-throughput DNA barcoding has the potential to overcome many of the logistic, financial, and taxonomic obstacles for large-scale monitoring of the Arctic arthropod fauna.
Biodiversity surveys of Arctic soil ecosystems are limited. Here, we provide a sequence-based inventory of soil fauna from an Arctic tundra ecosystem near Iqaluktuutiaq (Cambridge Bay), Nunavut. Invertebrate communities were extracted from soil at three sites with vegetation cover and three non-vegetated sites and inventoried using 18S metabarcode sequencing. A total of 361 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASV) were identified and assigned to the closest matching taxonomic orders, most of which belonged to the Nematoda and Arthropoda. Vegetated soils showed no significantly higher ASV richness relative to non-vegetated soils although they contained a significantly higher diversity of arthropod taxa including insects, mites and springtails. The majority of taxa were found only at a single location and communities were distinct between soils even for sites with vegetation cover, suggesting that belowground species richness in Arctic tundra habitats is highly endemic and heterogeneous. Preserving endemicity is essential for Inuit communities who rely on intact tundra ecosystems for their health and wellbeing.
Atmospheric transport is critical to dispersal of microorganisms between habitats and this underpins resilience in terrestrial and marine ecosystems globally. A key unresolved question is whether microorganisms assemble to form a taxonomically distinct, geographically variable, and functionally adapted atmospheric microbiota. Here we characterised inter-continental patterns of microbial taxonomic and functional diversity in air within and above the atmospheric boundary layer and in underlying soils for 596 globally sourced samples. Bacterial and fungal assemblages in air were taxonomically structured and deviated significantly from purely stochastic assembly. Patterns differed with location and reflected underlying surface cover and environmental filtering. Source-tracking indicated a complex recruitment process involving local soils plus globally distributed inputs from drylands and the phyllosphere. Assemblages displayed stress-response and metabolic traits relevant to survival in air, and taxonomic and functional diversity were correlated with macroclimate and atmospheric variables. Our findings highlight complexity in the atmospheric microbiota that is key to understanding regional and global ecosystem connectivity.
Atmospheric transport is critical to dispersal of microorganisms between habitats and this underpins resilience in terrestrial and marine ecosystems globally. A key unresolved question is whether microorganisms assemble to form a taxonomically distinct, geographically variable, and functionally adapted atmospheric microbiome. Here we characterised globalscale patterns of microbial taxonomic and functional diversity in air within and above the atmospheric boundary layer and in underlying soils. Bacterial and fungal assemblages in air were taxonomically structured and deviated significantly from purely stochastic assembly. Patterns differed with location and reflected underlying surface cover and environmental filtering. Source-tracking indicated a complex recruitment process involving local soils plus globally distributed inputs from drylands and the phyllosphere. Assemblages displayed stressresponse and metabolic traits relevant to survival in air, and taxonomic and functional diversity were correlated with macroclimate and atmospheric variables. Our findings highlight complexity in the atmospheric microbiome that is key to understanding regional and global ecosystem connectivity.
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