Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1118747 |
| Journal | Frontiers in microbiology |
| Volume | 14 |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2023 |
Abstract
Introduction: Eukaryotic algae in the top few centimeters of fellfield soils of ice-free Maritime Antarctica have many important effects on their habitat, such as being significant drivers of organic matter input into the soils and reducing the impact of wind erosion by soil aggregate formation. To better understand the diversity and distribution of Antarctic terrestrial algae, we performed a pilot study on the surface soils of Meseta, an ice-free plateau mountain crest of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, being hardly influenced by the marine realm and anthropogenic disturbances. It is openly exposed to microbial colonization from outside Antarctica and connected to the much harsher and dryer ice-free zones of the continental Antarctic. A temperate reference site under mild land use, SchF, was included to further test for the Meseta algae distribution in a contrasting environment. Methods: We employed a paired-end metabarcoding analysis based on amplicons of the highly variable nuclear-encoded ITS2 rDNA region, complemented by a clone library approach. It targeted the four algal classes, Chlorophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Ulvophyceae, and Xanthophyceae, representing key groups of cold-adapted soil algae. Results: A surprisingly high diversity of 830 algal OTUs was revealed, assigned to 58 genera in the four targeted algal classes. Members of the green algal class Trebouxiophyceae predominated in the soil algae communities. The major part of the algal biodiversity, 86.1% of all algal OTUs, could not be identified at the species level due to insufficient representation in reference sequence databases. The classes Ulvophyceae and Xanthophyceae exhibited the most unknown species diversity. About 9% of the Meseta algae species diversity was shared with that of the temperate reference site in Germany. Discussion: In the small portion of algal OTUs for which their distribution could be assessed, the entire ITS2 sequence identity with references shows that the soil algae likely have a wide distribution beyond the Polar regions. They probably originated from soil algae propagule banks in far southern regions, transported by aeolian transport over long distances. The dynamics and severity of environmental conditions at the soil surface, determined by high wind currents, and the soil algae’s high adaptability to harsh environmental conditions may account for the high similarity of soil algal communities between the northern and southern parts of the Meseta.
Keywords
- Antarctica, distribution, Fildes Peninsula, green algae, paired-end (ITS2) sequencing, soil algae, Xanthophyceae
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Microbiology(all)
- Microbiology
- Medicine(all)
- Microbiology (medical)
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Frontiers in microbiology, Vol. 14, 1118747, 26.06.2023.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Unrecognized diversity and distribution of soil algae from Maritime Antarctica (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island)
AU - Rybalka, Nataliya
AU - Blanke, Matthias
AU - Tzvetkova, Ana
AU - Noll, Angela
AU - Roos, Christian
AU - Boy, Jens
AU - Boy, Diana
AU - Nimptsch, Daniel
AU - Godoy, Roberto
AU - Friedl, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG), Grant Number 258740995, within the program “Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas (SPP 1158),” extended to TF. Funding Information: We thank Heiko Nakes for helping with the DNA extraction from soil samples, Rolf Daniel for supporting the laboratory work, and Norman Gentsch and Lars Ganzert for initial statistical analyses. We acknowledge the laboratory work of Eleni K. Ehlers with the SchF soil sample and the assistance of Dorothea Hause-Reitner in organizing the collection of the soil samples. We thank the Instituto Antarctico Chileno (INACH-T 28–11) for the logistic fieldwork support. We acknowledge support from the Open Access Publication Funds of Göttingen University.
PY - 2023/6/26
Y1 - 2023/6/26
N2 - Introduction: Eukaryotic algae in the top few centimeters of fellfield soils of ice-free Maritime Antarctica have many important effects on their habitat, such as being significant drivers of organic matter input into the soils and reducing the impact of wind erosion by soil aggregate formation. To better understand the diversity and distribution of Antarctic terrestrial algae, we performed a pilot study on the surface soils of Meseta, an ice-free plateau mountain crest of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, being hardly influenced by the marine realm and anthropogenic disturbances. It is openly exposed to microbial colonization from outside Antarctica and connected to the much harsher and dryer ice-free zones of the continental Antarctic. A temperate reference site under mild land use, SchF, was included to further test for the Meseta algae distribution in a contrasting environment. Methods: We employed a paired-end metabarcoding analysis based on amplicons of the highly variable nuclear-encoded ITS2 rDNA region, complemented by a clone library approach. It targeted the four algal classes, Chlorophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Ulvophyceae, and Xanthophyceae, representing key groups of cold-adapted soil algae. Results: A surprisingly high diversity of 830 algal OTUs was revealed, assigned to 58 genera in the four targeted algal classes. Members of the green algal class Trebouxiophyceae predominated in the soil algae communities. The major part of the algal biodiversity, 86.1% of all algal OTUs, could not be identified at the species level due to insufficient representation in reference sequence databases. The classes Ulvophyceae and Xanthophyceae exhibited the most unknown species diversity. About 9% of the Meseta algae species diversity was shared with that of the temperate reference site in Germany. Discussion: In the small portion of algal OTUs for which their distribution could be assessed, the entire ITS2 sequence identity with references shows that the soil algae likely have a wide distribution beyond the Polar regions. They probably originated from soil algae propagule banks in far southern regions, transported by aeolian transport over long distances. The dynamics and severity of environmental conditions at the soil surface, determined by high wind currents, and the soil algae’s high adaptability to harsh environmental conditions may account for the high similarity of soil algal communities between the northern and southern parts of the Meseta.
AB - Introduction: Eukaryotic algae in the top few centimeters of fellfield soils of ice-free Maritime Antarctica have many important effects on their habitat, such as being significant drivers of organic matter input into the soils and reducing the impact of wind erosion by soil aggregate formation. To better understand the diversity and distribution of Antarctic terrestrial algae, we performed a pilot study on the surface soils of Meseta, an ice-free plateau mountain crest of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, being hardly influenced by the marine realm and anthropogenic disturbances. It is openly exposed to microbial colonization from outside Antarctica and connected to the much harsher and dryer ice-free zones of the continental Antarctic. A temperate reference site under mild land use, SchF, was included to further test for the Meseta algae distribution in a contrasting environment. Methods: We employed a paired-end metabarcoding analysis based on amplicons of the highly variable nuclear-encoded ITS2 rDNA region, complemented by a clone library approach. It targeted the four algal classes, Chlorophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Ulvophyceae, and Xanthophyceae, representing key groups of cold-adapted soil algae. Results: A surprisingly high diversity of 830 algal OTUs was revealed, assigned to 58 genera in the four targeted algal classes. Members of the green algal class Trebouxiophyceae predominated in the soil algae communities. The major part of the algal biodiversity, 86.1% of all algal OTUs, could not be identified at the species level due to insufficient representation in reference sequence databases. The classes Ulvophyceae and Xanthophyceae exhibited the most unknown species diversity. About 9% of the Meseta algae species diversity was shared with that of the temperate reference site in Germany. Discussion: In the small portion of algal OTUs for which their distribution could be assessed, the entire ITS2 sequence identity with references shows that the soil algae likely have a wide distribution beyond the Polar regions. They probably originated from soil algae propagule banks in far southern regions, transported by aeolian transport over long distances. The dynamics and severity of environmental conditions at the soil surface, determined by high wind currents, and the soil algae’s high adaptability to harsh environmental conditions may account for the high similarity of soil algal communities between the northern and southern parts of the Meseta.
KW - Antarctica
KW - distribution
KW - Fildes Peninsula
KW - green algae
KW - paired-end (ITS2) sequencing
KW - soil algae
KW - Xanthophyceae
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164671567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1118747
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1118747
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85164671567
VL - 14
JO - Frontiers in microbiology
JF - Frontiers in microbiology
SN - 1664-302X
M1 - 1118747
ER -