Changes of the soil ecosystem along a receding glacier: Testing the correlation between environmental factors and bacterial community structure

Noll, Matthias; Wellinger, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2008.07.012

Cited by 52 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This indicates that this funnelling mechanism creates N-rich hotspots in the vicinity of rocks, which presumably leads to spatial heterogeneity in soil N availability. Although we did not measure other potentially relevant processes, such as N mineralization, N-fixation and denitrification, previous studies have shown that these were of negligible importance at our pristine glacial forefield site (Noll and Wellinger 2008;Brankatschk et al 2010). Moreover, extrapolating our results to a full year on the basis of N concentrations in rainfall during the measuring period, we obtained a mean N input of 4.9 g m -2 y -1 beside rocks compared to 0.5 g N m -2 y -1 further away.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rocks create nitrogen hotspots and N:P heterogeneity by funnelling rain

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We postulated that soil nutrient heterogeneity arises not only through physical and biological processes in the soil, but also through emergent rocks diverting precipitation containing nutrients to the surrounding soil. To test this idea-which we call the 'funnelling effect' of such rocks-we placed ionexchange resin in small boxes beside rocks and in open soil on a pristine glacial forefield site in Switzerland, and measured the amounts of NH 4 ? , NO 3 -, NO 2 -and PO 4 3-that were adsorbed. We also placed resin bags beneath PVC funnels of different sizes so that we could calibrate the natural funnelling effect of rocks.We obtained strong linear relationships between nitrogen (N) adsorbed and rain-collecting area of both rocks and funnels. Although the mean rain-collecting area of rocks was only 0.02 m 2 , mean N adsorption was around 10 times higher within 1 cm of rocks than further away. In contrast, phosphorus (P) was not concentrated beside rocks, so that N:P stoichiometry varied spatially. Rumex scutatus and Agrostis gigantea plants that rooted beside rocks had significantly higher foliar N concentrations than those growing further away, in line with the resin data. However, the two species showed differing responses in foliar P and N:P. We propose that R. scutatus benefits from the increased N supply by increasing its uptake of soil P, while A. gigantea is unable to do so. This study clearly demonstrates that aboveground rain-funnelling structures can produce spatial heterogeneity in N supply, thereby creating a diversity of nutritional niches for plants.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rocks create nitrogen hotspots and N:P heterogeneity by funnelling rain

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, Verrucomicrobia and Acidobacteria, known to be among the soil bacterial groups with the lower cultivability levels, can indicate a shift from r to K growth strategy along with soil age and development and increase of carbon sources complexity, yet described in Puca glacier [9] and in Dammaglacier (Switzerland) [10] forelands. Bacterial succession and development of soil ecosystem along with time after ice retreat have been reported in several glacier forefronts [7,9,35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial Communities Involved in Soil Formation and Plant Establishment Triggered by Pyrite Bioweathering on Arctic Moraines

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In arctic glacier moraines, bioweathering primed by microbial iron oxidizers creates fertility gradients that accelerate soil development and plant establishment. With the aim of investigating the change of bacterial diversity in a pyrite-weathered gradient, we analyzed the composition of the bacterial communities involved in the process by sequencing 16S rRNA gene libraries from different biological soil crusts (BSC). Bacterial communities in three BSC of different morphology, located within 1 m distance downstream a pyritic conglomerate rock, were significantly diverse. The glacier moraine surrounding the weathered site showed wide phylogenetic diversity and high evenness with 15 represented bacterial classes, dominated by Alphaproteobacteria and pioneer Cyanobacteria colonizers. The bioweathered area showed the lowest diversity indexes and only nine bacterial families, largely dominated by Acidobacteriaceae and Acetobacteraceae typical of acidic environments, in accordance with the low pH of the BSC. In the weathered BSC, iron-oxidizing bacteria were cultivated, with counts decreasing along with the increase of distance from the rock, and nutrient release from the rock was revealed by environmental scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analyses. The vegetated area showed the presence of Actinomycetales, Verrucomicrobiales, Gemmatimonadales, Burkholderiales, and Rhizobiales, denoting a bacterial community typical of developed soils and indicating that the lithoid substrate of the bare moraine was here subjected to an accelerated colonization, driven by iron-oxidizing activity.

show abstract

“…All nutrient values and the microbial biomass C are given in µg g −1 . Data were summarized from ), Brankatschk et al (2011), Hämmerli et al (2007 and Noll and Wellinger (2008 on snow revealed that approximately 0.6 kg N ha −1 a −1 is deposited as particulate organic matter. Decomposition and mineralization of this organic matter was suggested to be the dominant N transformation process in the initial soils at the Damma Glacier (Brankatschk et al, 2011), which is declared as initial phase in Fig.…”

Section: Development Of Initial C and N Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of microorganisms at different stages of ecosystem development for soil formation

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil formation is the result of a complex network of biological as well as chemical and physical processes. The role of soil microbes is of high interest, since they are responsible for most biological transformations and drive the development of stable and labile pools of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and other nutrients, which facilitate the subsequent establishment of plant communities. Forefields of receding glaciers provide unique chronosequences of different soil development stages and are ideal ecosystems to study the interaction of bacteria, fungi and archaea with their abiotic environment. In this review we give insights into the role of microbes for soil development. The results presented are based on studies performed within the Collaborative Research Program DFG SFB/TRR 38 (http://www.tu-cottbus.de/ecosystem ) and are supplemented by data from other studies. The review focusses on the microbiology of major steps of soil formation. Special attention is given to the development of nutrient cycles on the formation of biological soil crusts (BSCs) and on the establishment of plant–microbe interactions

show abstract

Changes of the soil ecosystem along a receding glacier: Testing the correlation between environmental factors and bacterial community structure

Cited by 52 publications

References 24 publications

Rocks create nitrogen hotspots and N:P heterogeneity by funnelling rain

Rocks create nitrogen hotspots and N:P heterogeneity by funnelling rain

Bacterial Communities Involved in Soil Formation and Plant Establishment Triggered by Pyrite Bioweathering on Arctic Moraines

The role of microorganisms at different stages of ecosystem development for soil formation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About