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      Microbial Communities in a High Arctic Polar Desert Landscape

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          Abstract

          The High Arctic is dominated by polar desert habitats whose microbial communities are poorly understood. In this study, we used next generation sequencing to describe the α- and β-diversity of microbial communities in polar desert soils from the Kongsfjorden region of Svalbard. Ten phyla dominated the soils and accounted for 95% of all sequences, with the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi being the major lineages. In contrast to previous investigations of Arctic soils, relative Acidobacterial abundances were found to be very low as were the Archaea throughout the Kongsfjorden polar desert landscape. Lower Acidobacterial abundances were attributed to characteristic circumneutral soil pHs in this region, which has resulted from the weathering of underlying carbonate bedrock. In addition, we compared previously measured geochemical conditions as possible controls on soil microbial communities. Phosphorus, pH, nitrogen, and calcium levels all significantly correlated with β-diversity, indicating landscape-scale lithological control of available nutrients, which in turn, significantly influenced soil community composition. In addition, soil phosphorus and pH significantly correlated with α-diversity, particularly with the Shannon diversity and Chao 1 richness indices.

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          QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data.

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            The diversity and biogeography of soil bacterial communities.

            For centuries, biologists have studied patterns of plant and animal diversity at continental scales. Until recently, similar studies were impossible for microorganisms, arguably the most diverse and abundant group of organisms on Earth. Here, we present a continental-scale description of soil bacterial communities and the environmental factors influencing their biodiversity. We collected 98 soil samples from across North and South America and used a ribosomal DNA-fingerprinting method to compare bacterial community composition and diversity quantitatively across sites. Bacterial diversity was unrelated to site temperature, latitude, and other variables that typically predict plant and animal diversity, and community composition was largely independent of geographic distance. The diversity and richness of soil bacterial communities differed by ecosystem type, and these differences could largely be explained by soil pH (r(2) = 0.70 and r(2) = 0.58, respectively; P < 0.0001 in both cases). Bacterial diversity was highest in neutral soils and lower in acidic soils, with soils from the Peruvian Amazon the most acidic and least diverse in our study. Our results suggest that microbial biogeography is controlled primarily by edaphic variables and differs fundamentally from the biogeography of "macro" organisms.
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              Conservation evaluation and phylogenetic diversity

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Microbiol
                Front Microbiol
                Front. Microbiol.
                Frontiers in Microbiology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-302X
                31 March 2016
                2016
                : 7
                : 419
                Affiliations
                [1] 1School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
                [2] 2Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS, USA
                [3] 3Energy Bioengineering and Geomicrobiology, University of Calgary, Calgary AB, Canada
                Author notes

                Edited by: Brian D. Lanoil, University of Alberta, Canada

                Reviewed by: Sunita R. Shah Walter, Harvard University, USA; Charles K. Lee, University of Waikato, New Zealand; Magdalena Rose Osburn, Northwestern University, USA

                *Correspondence: David W. Graham, david.graham@ 123456newcastle.ac.uk

                This article was submitted to Extreme Microbiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology

                Article
                10.3389/fmicb.2016.00419
                4814466
                27065980
                e646acfa-6721-41c3-a906-c9a0a64e2d0a
                Copyright © 2016 McCann, Wade, Gray, Roberts, Hubert and Graham.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 30 October 2015
                : 15 March 2016
                Page count
                Figures: 2, Tables: 4, Equations: 0, References: 61, Pages: 10, Words: 0
                Funding
                Funded by: Natural Environment Research Council 10.13039/501100000270
                Award ID: NE/F00608X/1 and NE/F00608X/1
                Categories
                Microbiology
                Original Research

                Microbiology & Virology
                polar soils,biogeochemistry,microbial diversity,ecology,phosphorus
                Microbiology & Virology
                polar soils, biogeochemistry, microbial diversity, ecology, phosphorus

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