Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-wxk4p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T23:24:35.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The identification of environmental parameters which could influence soil bacterial community composition on the Antarctic Peninsula - a statistical approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2012

C.W. Chong ,
D.A. Pearce ,
P. Convey  and
I.K.P. Tan
C.W. Chong*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
D.A. Pearce
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
P. Convey
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK
I.K.P. Tan
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*
cchhoonngg81@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We adopted a statistical approach to identify environmental parameters which might be important in structuring the bacterial community in soils on the Antarctic Peninsula. An assessment of soil bacterial community composition at six environmentally distinct locations was made using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) profiling. All locations are near to Rothera Point, on Reptile Ridge and adjacent islands in Ryder Bay, off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and were selected to maximize the range of environmental variability easily accessible from Rothera Station. A range of environmental variables was determined, and a Spearman rank correlation test was used to link the community structure and environmental variables. We demonstrated that the taxonomic distribution of the soil bacteria among the six study sites was relatively even, especially among the islands within Ryder Bay, although each location possessed a distinct community structure. Significant differences in the environmental conditions and soil chemical parameters allowed us to identify differences in location and soil pH as the environmental variables that could most probably explain the soil bacterial community patterns. This observation is consistent with an increasing number of studies from both Arctic and Antarctic locations, and will contribute to the design of future parameter-specific studies to test the potential functional significance of pH to the Antarctic soil bacterial community.

Keywords

altitudebacterial diversitycloninggeographical proximitypHT-RFLP

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , 24 May 2012 , pp. 249 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aislabie, J.M., Jordan, S.Barker, G.M. 2008. Relation between soil classification and bacterial diversity in soils of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Geoderma, 144, 9–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aislabie, J., Jordan, S., Ayton, J., Klassen, J.L., Barker, G.M.Turner, S. 2009. Bacterial diversity associated with ornithogenic soil of the Ross Sea region, Antarctica. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 55, 21–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, M.J., Gorley, R.N.Clarke, K.R. 2008. PERMANOVA+ for PRIMER: guide to software and statistical methods. Plymouth: PRIMER-E, 214 pp.Google Scholar
Ashelford, K.E., Chuzhanova, N.A., Fry, J.C., Jones, A.J.Weightman, A.J. 2005. At least 1 in 20 16S rRNA sequence records currently held in public repositories is estimated to contain substantial anomalies. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71, 7724–7736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ashelford, K.E., Chuzhanova, N.A., Fry, J.C., Jones, A.J.Weightman, A.J. 2006. New screening software shows that most recent large 16S rRNA gene clone libraries contain chimeras. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72, 5734–5741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bååth, E. 1996. Adaptation of soil bacterial communities to prevailing pH in different soils. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 19, 227–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bokhorst, S., Huiskes, A., Convey, P.Aerts, R. 2007. External nutrient inputs into terrestrial ecosystems of the Falkland Islands and the Maritime Antarctic region. Polar Biology, 30, 1315–1321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridge, P.D.Newsham, K.K. 2009. Soil fungal community composition at Mars Oasis, a southern Maritime Antarctic site, assessed by PCR amplification and cloning. Fungal Ecology, 2, 66–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, J.A., Lamanna, C., Morlon, H., Kerkhoff, A.J., Enquist, B.J.Green, J.L. 2008. Colloquium paper: microbes on mountainsides: contrasting elevational patterns of bacterial and plant diversity. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the United States of America, 105, 11 505–11 511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannone, N., Diolaiuti, G., Guglielmin, M.Smiraglia, C. 2008a. Accelerating climate change impacts on alpine glacier forefield ecosystems in the European Alps. Ecological Applications, 18, 637–648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannone, N., Wagner, D., Hubberten, H.W.Guglielmin, M. 2008b. Biotic and abiotic factors influencing soil properties across a latitudinal gradient in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geoderma, 144, 50–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cary, S.C., McDonald, I.R., Barrett, J.E.Cowan, D.A. 2010. On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chong, C.W., Tan, G.Y.A., Wong, R.C.S., Riddle, M.J.Tan, I.K.P. 2009b. DGGE fingerprinting of bacteria in soils from eight ecologically different sites around Casey Station, Antarctica. Polar Biology, 32, 853–860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chong, C.W., Dunn, M.J., Convey, P., Tan, G.Y.A., Wong, R.C.S.Tan, I.K.P. 2009a. Environmental influences on bacterial diversity of soils on Signy Island, Maritime Antarctic. Polar Biology, 32, 1571–1582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chong, C.W., Pearce, D.A., Convey, P., Tan, G.Y.A., Wong, R.C.S.Tan, I.K.P. 2010. High levels of spatial heterogeneity in the biodiversity of soil prokaryotes on Signy Island, Antarctica. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 42, 601–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chown, S.L.Convey, P. 2007. Spatial and temporal variability across life's hierarchies in the terrestrial Antarctic. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B362, 2307–2331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chu, H., Fierer, N., Lauber, C.L., Caporaso, J.G., Knight, R.Grogan, P. 2010. Soil bacterial diversity in the Arctic is not fundamentally different from that found in other biomes. Environmental Microbiology, 12, 2998–3006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R., Somerfield, P.J.Gorley, R.N. 2008. Testing of null hypotheses in exploratory community analyses: similarity profiles and biota-environment linkage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 366, 56–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P. 2003. Maritime Antarctic climate change: signals from terrestrial biology. Antarctic Research Series, 79, 145–158.Google Scholar
Convey, P.Smith, R.I.L. 1997. The terrestrial arthropod fauna and its habitats in northern Marguerite Bay and Alexander Island, Maritime Antarctic. Antarctic Science, 9, 12–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Convey, P., Block, W.Peat, H.J. 2003. Soil arthropods as indicators of water stress in Antarctic terrestrial habitats? Global Change Biology, 9, 1718–1730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowan, D., Pointing, S., Stevens, M., Cary, S.C., Stomeo, F.Tuffin, I. 2011. Distribution and abiotic influences on hypolithic microbial communities in an Antarctic Dry Valley. Polar Biology, 34, 307–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culman, S.W., Bukowski, R., Gauch, H.G., Cadillo-Quiroz, H.Buckley, D.H. 2009. T-REX: software for the processing and analysis of T-RFLP data. BMC Bioinformatics, 10, 171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fell, J.W., Scorzetti, G., Connell, L.Craig, S. 2006. Biodiversity of micro-eukaryotes in Antarctic Dry Valley soils with < 5% soil moisture. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 3107–3119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fierer, N., Bradford, M.A.Jackson, R.B. 2007. Toward an ecological classification of soil bacteria. Ecology, 88, 1354–1364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foong, C.P., Wong Vui Ling, C.M.González, M. 2010. Metagenomic analyses of the dominant bacterial community in the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island (South Shetland Islands). Polar Science, 4, 263–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganzert, L., Lipski, A., Hubberten, H.W.Wagner, D. 2011. The impact of different soil parameters on the community structure of dominant bacteria from nine different soils located on Livingston Island, South Shetland Archipelago, Antarctica. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 76, 476–491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gold, W.G.Bliss, L.C. 1995. Water limitations and plant community development in a polar desert. Ecology, 76, 1558–1568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, C.J.Oglethorpe, R.D.J. 1998. The stratigraphy and geochronology of Adelaide Island. Antarctic Science, 10, 462–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartman, W.H., Richardson, C.J., Vilgalys, R.Bruland, G.L. 2008. Environmental and anthropogenic controls over bacterial communities in wetland soils. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 17 842–17 847.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Konopka, A., Zakharova, T., Bischoff, M., Oliver, L., Nakatsu, C.Turco, R.F. 1999. Microbial biomass and activity in lead-contaminated soil. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 65, 2256–2259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kursar, T.A., Engelbrecht, B.M.J.Tyree, M.T. 2005. A comparison of methods for determining soil water availability in two sites in Panama with similar rainfall but distinct tree communities. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 21, 297–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, W.T., Marsh, T.L., Cheng, H.Forney, L.J. 1997. Characterization of microbial diversity by determining terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of genes encoding 16S rRNA. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 63, 4516–4522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Männistö, M.K., Tiirola, M.Häggblom, M.M. 2007. Bacterial communities in Arctic fjelds of Finnish Lapland are stable but highly pH-dependent. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 59, 452–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margesin, R., Jud, M., Tscherko, D.Schinner, F. 2009. Microbial communities and activities in alpine and subalpine soils. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 67, 208–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newsham, K.K., Pearce, D.A.Bridge, P.D. 2010. Minimal influence of water and nutrient content on the bacterial community composition of a Maritime Antarctic soil. Microbiological Research, 165, 523–530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nygård, T., Lie, E., Røv, N.Steinnes, E. 2001. Metal dynamics in an Antarctic food chain. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 42, 598–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, D.A., Bridge, P.D., Hughes, K.A., Sattler, B., Psenner, R.Russell, N.J. 2009. Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 69, 143–157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pointing, S.B., Chan, Y., Lacap, D.C., Lau, M.C.Y., Jurgens, J.A.Farrell, R.L. 2010. Highly specialized microbial diversity in hyper-arid polar desert. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107, 1254–1254.Google Scholar
Santos, I.R., Silva-Filho, E.V., Schaefer, C.E.G.R., Albuquerque-Filho, M.R.Campos, L.S. 2005. Heavy metal contamination in coastal sediments and soils near the Brazilian Antarctic Station, King George Island. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 50, 185–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schloss, P.D., Westcott, S.L., Ryabin, T., Hall, J.R., Hartmann, M., Hollister, E.B., Lesniewski, R.A., Oakley, B.B., Parks, D.H., Robinson, C.J., Sahl, J.W., Stres, B., Thallinger, G.G., van Horn, D.J.Weber, C.F. 2009. Introducing mothur: open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75, 7537–7541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schütte, U., Abdo, Z., Bent, S., Shyu, C., Williams, C., Pierson, J.Forney, L. 2008. Advances in the use of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of 16S rRNA genes to characterize microbial communities. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 80, 365–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seymour, F.A., Crittenden, P.D., Wirtz, N., Øvstedal, D.O., Dyer, P.S.Lumbsch, H.T. 2007. Phylogenetic and morphological analysis of Antarctic lichen-forming Usnea species in the group Neuropogon. Antarctic Science, 19, 71–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shravage, B.V., Dayananda, K.M., Patole, M.S.Shouche, Y.S. 2007. Molecular microbial diversity of a soil sample and detection of ammonia oxidizers from Cape Evans, McMurdo Dry Valley, Antarctica. Microbiological Research, 162, 15–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, C.J., Danilowicz, B.S., Clear, A.K., Costello, F.J., Wilson, B.Meijer, W.G. 2005. T-Align, a web-based tool for comparison of multiple terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism profiles. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 54, 375–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teixeira, L.C.R.S., Peixoto, R.S., Cury, J.C., Sul, W.J., Pellizari, V.H., Tiedje, J.Rosado, A.S. 2010. Bacterial diversity in rhizosphere soil from Antarctic vascular plants of Admiralty Bay, Maritime Antarctica. The ISME Journal, 4, 989–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tindall, B.J. 2004. Prokaryotic diversity in the Antarctic: the tip of the iceberg. Microbial Ecology, 47, 271–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yergeau, E., Newsham, K.K., Pearce, D.A.Kowalchuk, G.A. 2007. Patterns of bacterial diversity across a range of Antarctic terrestrial habitats. Environmental Microbiology, 9, 2670–2682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zwart, G., Crump, B.C., Agterveld, M.P.K.-V., Hagen, F.Han, S.-K. 2002. Typical freshwater bacteria: an analysis of available 16S rRNA gene sequences from plankton of lakes and rivers. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 28, 141–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Chong supplementary materials

Appendix.doc

Download Chong supplementary materials(File)
File 246.3 KB