0000000000053040
AUTHOR
Minna K. Männistö
Response to reindeer grazing removal depends on soil characteristics in low Arctic meadows
In Arctic tundra, grazing is expected to exert a positive influence on microbial activity thus enhancing nutrient cycling and promoting the presence of high productive graminoids. We investigated the changes occurring in two low Arctic meadow sites after 10 years exclusion from grazing. We compared plant, soil fauna and microbial community composition, extracellular enzymes activities, and soil nutrients in ungrazed and adjacent grazed area in two low Arctic meadows. The two closely located experimental sites were both dominated by the common grass Deschampsia flexuosa which covered more than 50% of the meadows. Plant community was affected significantly by site and grazing, but the effect …
Soil microbial and microfaunal communities and organic matter quality in reindeer winter and summer ranges in Finnish subarctic mountain birch forests
Abstract Reindeer husbandry has significant influences on the aboveground plant communities and the structure of the mountain birch forests in the Fennoscandian subarctic. We investigated how the reindeer-mediated aboveground changes affect soil microbial and microfaunal communities and enzymatic activities. We hypothesized that in areas with intensive summer browsing by reindeer, the carbon flow to belowground is reduced, but the carbon substances are more readily degradable. This is likely to influence both the abundance and the trophic structure of microbial and microfaunal communities. However, despite large differences in the vegetation, the reindeer ranges did not differ in the amount…
Bacterial communities in Arctic fjelds of Finnish Lapland are stable but highly pH-dependent
The seasonal and spatial variations of microbial communities in Arctic fjelds of Finnish Lapland were studied. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and terminal restriction fragment analysis (T-RFLP) of amplified 16S rRNA genes were used to assess the effect of soil conditions and vegetation on microbial community structures along different altitudes of two fjelds, Saana and Jehkas. Terminal restriction fragments were additionally analysed from c . 160 cloned sequences and isolated bacterial strains and matched with those of soil DNA samples. T-RFLP and PLFA analyses indicated relatively similar microbial communities at various altitudes and under different vegetation of the two fjelds. …
Mucilaginibacter frigoritolerans sp. nov., Mucilaginibacter lappiensis sp. nov. and Mucilaginibacter mallensis sp. nov., isolated from soil and lichen samples.
Five cold-adapted bacteria belonging to the genus Mucilaginibacter were isolated from lichen and soil samples collected from Finnish Lapland and investigated in detail by phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses. Based on 16S rRNA gene phylogeny, the novel strains represent three new branches within the genus Mucilaginibacter. The strains were aerobic, chemo-organotrophic, non-motile rods and formed pigmented, smooth, mucoid colonies on solid media. The strains grew between 0 and 33 °C (optimum growth at 25 °C) and at pH 4.5–8.0 (optimum growth at pH 6.0). The main cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c/iso-C15 : 0 2-OH) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and the major respirato…
Novosphingobium lentum sp. nov., a psychrotolerant bacterium from a polychlorophenol bioremediation process
A polychlorophenol-degrading strain, designated MT1T, and three MT1-like strains, MT101, MT103 and MT104, were isolated from a cold (4–8 °C) fluidized-bed process treating chlorophenol-contaminated groundwater in southern Finland. The organisms were Gram-negative, rod-shaped, catalase-positive, non-spore-forming and non-motile. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strains belonged to the α-4 subclass of the Proteobacteria and were members of the genus Novosphingobium. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity observed for these strains was 96·5 % with the type strains of Novosphingobium hassiacum, Novosphingobium aromaticivorans and Novosphingobium s…
Acidobacteria dominate the active bacterial communities of Arctic tundra with widely divergent winter-time snow accumulation and soil temperatures.
The timing and extent of snow cover is a major controller of soil temperature and hence winter-time microbial activity and plant diversity in Arctic tundra ecosystems. To understand how snow dynamics shape the bacterial communities, we analyzed the bacterial community composition of windswept and snow-accumulating shrub-dominated tundra heaths of northern Finland using DNA- and RNA-based 16S rRNA gene community fingerprinting (terminal restriction fragment polymorphism) and clone library analysis. Members of the Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria dominated the bacterial communities of both windswept and snow-accumulating habitats with the most abundant phylotypes corresponding to subdivision …
Cryptogams signify key transition of bacteria and fungi in Arctic sand dune succession
SummaryPrimary succession models focus on aboveground vascular plants. However, the prevalence of mosses and lichens, i.e. cryptogams, suggests they play a role in soil successions. Here, we explore whether effects of cryptogams on belowground microbes can facilitate progressive shifts in sand dune succession.We linked aboveground vegetation, belowground bacterial and fungal community, and soil chemistry in six successional stages in Arctic inland sand dunes: bare sand, grass, moss, lichen, ericoid heath and mountain birch forest.Compared to the bare sand and grass stages, microbial biomass and the proportion of fungi increased in the moss stage, and later stage microbial groups appeared de…
Diversity of chlorophenol-degrading bacteria isolated from contaminated boreal groundwater
Chlorophenol-degrading bacteria from a long-term polluted groundwater aquifer were characterized. All isolates degraded 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol at concentrations detected in the contaminated groundwater (10 mg 1(-1)). Pentachlorophenol was degraded by three isolates when present alone. In two gram-positive isolates, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol was required as an inducer for the degradation of pentachlorophenol. The gram-positive isolates were sensitive to pentachlorophenol, with an IC50 value of 5 mg/l. Isolates belonging to the Cytophaga/Flexibacter/Bacteroides phylum had IC50 values of 25 and 63 mg/l. Isolates belonging to alpha-, beta- and gamma-Proteobacteria g…
Isolation and Characterization of Novosphingobium sp. Strain MT1, a Dominant Polychlorophenol-Degrading Strain in a Groundwater Bioremediation System
ABSTRACT A high-rate fluidized-bed bioreactor has been treating polychlorophenol-contaminated groundwater in southern Finland at 5 to 8°C for over 6 years. We examined the microbial diversity of the bioreactor using three 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)-based methods: denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, length heterogeneity-PCR analysis, and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The molecular study revealed that the process was dependent on a stable bacterial community with low species diversity. The dominant organism, Novosphingobium sp. strain MT1, was isolated and characterized. Novosphingobium sp. strain MT1 degraded the main contaminants of the groundwater, 2,4,6-trichloroph…
Grazing intensity in subarctic tundra affects the temperature adaptation of soil microbial communities
Abstract Grazing by large ungulates, such as reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.), in subarctic tundra exerts a considerable effect on the soil microclimate. Because of higher insulation by the aboveground vegetation in light versus heavily grazed areas, soil temperatures during the growing season are considerably higher under heavy grazing. Here, we hypothesized that these grazer-induced changes in soil microclimate affect the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial activity. To test this hypothesis, we conducted soil incubations at different temperatures (4 °C, 9 °C and 14 °C) for six weeks using soils from sites with contrasting long-term grazing intensities. Microbial respiration at low te…
Do shifts in life strategies explain microbial community responses to increasing nitrogen in tundra soil?
Subarctic tundra soils store large quantities of the global organic carbon (C) pool as the decomposition of plant litter and soil organic matter is limited by low temperatures and limiting nutrients. Mechanisms that drive organic matter decomposition are still poorly understood due to our limited knowledge of microbial communities and their responses to changing conditions. In subarctic tundra large grazers, in particular reindeer, exert a strong effect on vegetation and nutrient availability causing drastic nutrient pulses in the soils located along the migratory routes. Here we studied the effect of increased nitrogen (N) availability on microbial community structure and activities by lab…
Subtercola boreus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Subtercola frigoramans sp. nov., two new psychrophilic actinobacteria isolated from boreal groundwater.
Psychrophilic actinobacterial isolates from permanently cold groundwater in Finland were characterized using a polyphasic approach. Growth on agar plates was observed at temperatures down to -2 degrees C, with an optimum at 15-17 degrees C, but no growth was observed at 30 degrees C. The peptidoglycan type was B2y and the characteristic diamino acid was diaminobutyric acid. The cell wall sugars of strain K265T were rhamnose, ribose, xylose and mannose and those of strain K300T were glucose, rhamnose and xylose. The polar lipids included phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one unknown phospholipid and two glycolipids. The main whole-cell fatty acids were 12-methyltetradecanoic acid…
Cryptogams signify key transitions of bacteria and fungi in Arctic sand dune succession.
•Primary succession models focus on aboveground vascular plants. However, the prevalence of mosses and lichens, i.e. cryptogams, suggests they play a role in soil successions. Here, we explore whether effects of cryptogams on belowground microbes can facilitate progressive shifts in sand dune succession. •We linked aboveground vegetation, belowground bacterial and fungal communities, and soil chemical properties in six successional stages in Arctic inland sand dunes: bare sand, grass, moss, lichen, ericoid heath and mountain birch forest. •Compared to the bare sand and grass stages, microbial biomass and the proportion of fungi increased in the moss stage, and later stage microbial groups a…
Microbial community composition but not diversity changes along succession in arctic sand dunes
The generality of increasing diversity of fungi and bacteria across arctic sand dune succession was tested. Microbial communities were examined by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes (bacteria) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions (fungi). We studied four microbial compartments (inside leaf, inside root, rhizosphere and bulk soil) and characterized microbes associated with a single plant species (Deschampsia flexuosa) across two sand dune successional stages (early and late). Bacterial richness increased across succession in bulk soil and leaf endosphere. In contrast, soil fungal richness remained constant while root endosphere fungal richness increased across succession. …