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Title: Disentangling the complexity of permafrost soil by using high resolution profiling of microbial community composition, key functions and respiration rates: High resolution permafrost microbial profile

Abstract

Thawing permafrost can stimulate microbial activity, leading to faster decomposition of formerly preserved organic matter and CO2 release. Detailed knowledge about the vertical distribution of the responsible microbial community that is changing with increasing soil depth is limited. In this study, we determined the microbial community composition from cores sampled in a high Arctic heath at Svalbard, Norway; spanning from the active layer (AL) into the permafrost layer (PL). A special aim has been on identifying a layer of recently thawed soil, the transition zone (TZ), which might provide new insights into the fate of thawing permafrost. A unique sampling strategy allowed us to observe a diverse and gradually shifting microbial community in the AL, a Bacteroidetes dominated community in the TZ, and throughout the PL, a community strongly dominated by a single Actinobacteria family (Intrasporangiaceae). The contrasting abundances of these two taxa caused a community difference of about 60%, just within three centimeters from TZ to PL. We incubated sub-samples at about 5°C and measured highest CO2 production rates under aerobic incubations, yet contrasting for five different layers and correlating to the microbial community composition. This high resolution strategy provides new insights on how microbial communities are structured inmore » permafrost and a better understanding of how they respond to thaw.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [3];  [6]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, N-5020, Bergen Norway
  2. Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, DK-4000 Roskilde Denmark, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen Denmark
  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99354 USA
  4. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), University of Copenhagen, DK-1350 Copenhagen Denmark
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA 94720 USA
  6. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, N-5020, Bergen Norway, University Center in Svalbard, UNIS, N-9171, Longyearbyen Norway
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1462122
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1462123; OSTI ID: 1476599; OSTI ID: 1496793
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-130170
Journal ID: ISSN 1462-2912
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Environmental Microbiology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Environmental Microbiology; Journal ID: ISSN 1462-2912
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; permafrost, 16SrRNA sequencing, intrasporangiaceae, greenhouse emissions, CO2, soil profile

Citation Formats

Müller, Oliver, Bang-Andreasen, Toke, White, III, Richard Allen, Elberling, Bo, Taş, Neslihan, Kneafsey, Timothy, Jansson, Janet K., and Øvreås, Lise. Disentangling the complexity of permafrost soil by using high resolution profiling of microbial community composition, key functions and respiration rates: High resolution permafrost microbial profile. United Kingdom: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14348.
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Müller, Oliver, Bang-Andreasen, Toke, White, III, Richard Allen, Elberling, Bo, Taş, Neslihan, Kneafsey, Timothy, Jansson, Janet K., & Øvreås, Lise. Disentangling the complexity of permafrost soil by using high resolution profiling of microbial community composition, key functions and respiration rates: High resolution permafrost microbial profile. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14348
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Müller, Oliver, Bang-Andreasen, Toke, White, III, Richard Allen, Elberling, Bo, Taş, Neslihan, Kneafsey, Timothy, Jansson, Janet K., and Øvreås, Lise. Sun . "Disentangling the complexity of permafrost soil by using high resolution profiling of microbial community composition, key functions and respiration rates: High resolution permafrost microbial profile". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14348.
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@article{osti_1462122,
title = {Disentangling the complexity of permafrost soil by using high resolution profiling of microbial community composition, key functions and respiration rates: High resolution permafrost microbial profile},
author = {Müller, Oliver and Bang-Andreasen, Toke and White, III, Richard Allen and Elberling, Bo and Taş, Neslihan and Kneafsey, Timothy and Jansson, Janet K. and Øvreås, Lise},
abstractNote = {Thawing permafrost can stimulate microbial activity, leading to faster decomposition of formerly preserved organic matter and CO2 release. Detailed knowledge about the vertical distribution of the responsible microbial community that is changing with increasing soil depth is limited. In this study, we determined the microbial community composition from cores sampled in a high Arctic heath at Svalbard, Norway; spanning from the active layer (AL) into the permafrost layer (PL). A special aim has been on identifying a layer of recently thawed soil, the transition zone (TZ), which might provide new insights into the fate of thawing permafrost. A unique sampling strategy allowed us to observe a diverse and gradually shifting microbial community in the AL, a Bacteroidetes dominated community in the TZ, and throughout the PL, a community strongly dominated by a single Actinobacteria family (Intrasporangiaceae). The contrasting abundances of these two taxa caused a community difference of about 60%, just within three centimeters from TZ to PL. We incubated sub-samples at about 5°C and measured highest CO2 production rates under aerobic incubations, yet contrasting for five different layers and correlating to the microbial community composition. This high resolution strategy provides new insights on how microbial communities are structured in permafrost and a better understanding of how they respond to thaw.},
doi = {10.1111/1462-2920.14348},
journal = {Environmental Microbiology},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Sun Jul 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sun Jul 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14348
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Cited by: 26 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Permafrost soil profile illustrating:

a)The soil structure in Adventdalen. Photograph shows the sedimentation process with periods of low sedimentation rates (small darker organic rich layers, marked with white triangles) and periods with higher sedimentation rates (thicker more pale layers).

b) Relative abundance of the 20 most abundant taxamore » at different taxonomical levels based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data showing the taxonomic prokaryotic community composition of the permafrost core profile. When taxonomical classes within a phylum showed very contrasting trends, the most abundant classes were illustrated instead of the entire phyla. Taxonomical levels are indicated by a one-letter code (p=phylum; c=class; f=family). Taxa comprising <1% of the total number of sequences within a sample were summarized as “Other”. Relative abundances for each sampling point are average values calculated from 2-6 replicates (Table S1).

c) Bray-Curtis dissimilarity values calculated for 16S rRNA gene sequence data at OTU level. Black triangles mark the transition from AL to TZ and from TZ to PL.

d) Alpha diversity indices (Chao1, Shannon and Simpson).<./p>

e) Bulk density measurement using X-ray CT scanning with measuring points for every centimeter (eleven example images illustrated on the left).

f) Soil chemistry (n=1) showing in blue the water content, in grey the carbon content and in red the pH throughout the core. Note that data was not available between 30 and 80 cm.

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