The Role of Biological Soil Crusts in Nitrogen Cycling and Soil Stabilization in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland

Heindel, Ruth C.; Governali, Francesca C.; Spickard, Angela M.; Virginia, Ross A.

doi:10.1007/s10021-018-0267-8

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The δ 15 N of Cyanobacerial crust and Crustose lichen were higher than expected, as previous studies found Cyanobacterial (Evans and Belnap, 1999; Billings et al, 2003) and lichen (Heindel et al, 2018) biocrusts falling within the −2 and +2‰ range in their natural environment. However, due to their morphologies, these crust types may have contained soil material adhering to it when we sampled, subsequently affecting their δ 15 N values.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

“…The positive effects of biocrusts upon surface C and N accumulation have been demonstrated in different ecosystems (Beraldi-Campesi et al, 2009; Brankatschk et al, 2012; Maier et al, 2014; Heindel et al, 2018). Here, we found that C and N content in biocrusts varied by crust type, where lichen-type crusts contained higher total N and organic C. However, we found that the presence of biocrust had limited influence on the N content of their underlying soil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Bacterial Microbiome Associated With Arid Biocrusts and the Biogeochemical Influence of Biocrusts Upon the Underlying Soil

et al. 2019

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Biocrusts are aggregated crusts that exist on the soil surface of arid environments. They are complex microbial communities comprised of cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, algae and fungi. Recently, biocrusts have gained significant attention due to their ubiquitous distribution and likely important ecological roles, including soil stabilization, soil moisture retention, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fixation, as well as microbial engineers for semi-arid ecosystem restoration. Here, we collected three co-occurring types of biocrust (Cyanobacterial crust, Crustose lichen, and Foliose lichen) and their underlying soil from arid zones within Western Australia. Bacterial microbiome composition was determined through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to assess the extent of microbiome selection within the crusts versus underlying soil and biogeochemical measures performed to determine whether the crusts had significant impact upon the underlying soil for nutrient input. We determined that the bacterial communities of native biocrusts are distinct from those in their underlying soil, where dominant bacterial taxa differed according to crust morphologies. δ15N revealed that N-fixation appeared most evident in Foliose lichen crust (1.73 ± 1.04‰). Consequently, depending upon the crust type, biocrusts contained higher concentrations of organic C (2 to 50 times), total N (4 to 16 times) and available ammonium (2 to 4 times), though this enrichment did not extend to the soils underneath them. These findings demonstrate that biocrust communities are seemingly islands of biological activity in an arid landscape, uniquely different from their surrounding and underlying soil.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bacterial Microbiome Associated With Arid Biocrusts and the Biogeochemical Influence of Biocrusts Upon the Underlying Soil

et al. 2019

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“…The low precipitation in the Ny-Ålesund region and lack of melt water during the summer season thus explains the higher abundance of chlorolichens over cyanolichens. Similar lichen patterns were described for the west coast of Greenland (Heindel et al 2019). Typical chlorolichen taxa associated with biocrusts are Cetraria muricata, Cladonia pyxidata, Lepraria cf.…”

Section: Vegetation and Cryptogamic Cover Survey Along The Catenassupporting

confidence: 72%

Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas

et al. 2019

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Although cryptogamic covers are important ecosystem engineers in high Arctic tundra, they were often neglected in vegetation surveys. Hence we conducted a systematic survey of cryptogamic cover and vascular plant coverage and composition at two representative, but differing Arctic sites (Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard) along catenas with a natural soil moisture 2 gradient, and integrated these data with physical-chemical soil properties. Soil samples were taken for comprehensive pedological and mineralogical analyses. Vegetation surveys were conducted based on classification by functional groups. Vascular plants were identified to species level. Correlation and multivariate statistical analysis were applied to determine the key environmental factors explaining vegetation patterns along the soil moisture gradients. We observed significant differences in gravimetric water, soil organic matter and nutrient contents along the moisture gradients. These differences were coincident with a shift in vegetation cover and species composition. While chloro-and cyanolichens were abundant at the drier sites, mosses dominated the wetter and vascular plants the intermediate plots. Twenty four vascular plant species could be identified, of which only six were present at both sites. Cryptogamic covers generally dominated with maximum areal coverage up to 70% and hence should be considered as a new additional syntaxon in future ground-truth and remote sensing based vegetation surveys of Svalbard. Multivariate analysis revealed that soil moisture showed the strongest relation between vegetation patterns, together with NH 4-N and pH. In conclusion, soil moisture is a key driver in controlling cryptogamic cover and vegetation coverage and vascular plant species composition in high Arctic tundra.

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“…Cyanobacteria are known to exist in all of the substrates sampled, although the community composition and abundance of picocyanobacteria have not been the focus of previous research. In the Kangerlussuaq region of Greenland, the terrestrial landscape hosts patchy biological soil crusts that include both free‐living cyanobacteria and cyanobacterial photobionts in lichens (Hansen, ; Heindel et al ., ). Cyanobacteria are also common in Arctic freshwater systems, and picocyanobacterial cells have been detected in epilimnetic water from Kangerlussuaq lakes using epifluorescence microscopy (J.V.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Picocyanobacterial cells in near‐surface air above terrestrial and freshwater substrates in Greenland and Antarctica

Trout‐Haney

Heindel

Virginia

2020

Environ Microbiol Rep

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Bioaerosols are an important component of the total atmospheric aerosol load, with implications for human health, climate feedbacks and the distribution and dispersal of microbial taxa. Bioaerosols are sourced from marine, freshwater and terrestrial surfaces, with different mechanisms potentially responsible for releasing biological particles from these substrates. Little is known about the production of freshwater and terrestrial bioaerosols in polar regions. We used portable collection devices to test for the presence of picocyanobacterial aerosols above freshwater and soil substrates in the southwestern Greenland tundra and the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. We show that picocyanobacterial cells are present in the nearsurface air at concentrations ranging from 2,431 to 28,355 cells m −3 of air, with no significant differences among substrates or between polar regions. Our concentrations are lower than those measured using the same methods in temperate ecosystems. We suggest that aerosolization is an important process linking terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in these polar environments, and that future work is needed to explore aerosolization mechanisms and taxonspecific aerosolization rates. Our study is a first step toward understanding the production of bioaerosols in extreme environments dominated by microbial life.

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The Role of Biological Soil Crusts in Nitrogen Cycling and Soil Stabilization in Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland

Cited by 28 publications

References 46 publications

The Bacterial Microbiome Associated With Arid Biocrusts and the Biogeochemical Influence of Biocrusts Upon the Underlying Soil

The Bacterial Microbiome Associated With Arid Biocrusts and the Biogeochemical Influence of Biocrusts Upon the Underlying Soil

Comparative vegetation survey with focus on cryptogamic covers in the high Arctic along two differing catenas

Picocyanobacterial cells in near‐surface air above terrestrial and freshwater substrates in Greenland and Antarctica

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