Ecology and biogeochemistry of cyanobacteria in soils, permafrost, aquatic and cryptic polar habitats

Makhalanyane, Thulani P.; Valverde, Ángel; Velázquez, David; Gunnigle, Eoin; Goethem, Marc W. Van; Quesada, Antonio; Cowan, Don A.

doi:10.1007/s10531-015-0902-z

Cited by 68 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 160 publications

(192 reference statements)

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“…Cyanobacteria, mostly affiliated to Nostoc commune, are prevalent in both Arctic and Antarctic soils and appear to drive most functional processes related to carbon and nitrogen cycling [48][49][50].…”

Section: Microbial Diversity In Cold Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial diversity and functional capacity in polar soils

Makhalanyane

Goethem

Cowan

2016

Current Opinion in Biotechnology

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Global change is disproportionately affecting cold environments (polar and high elevation regions), with potentially negative impacts on microbial diversity and functional processes. In most cold environments the combination of low temperatures, and physical stressors, such as katabatic wind episodes and limited water availability result in biotic systems, which are in trophic terms very simple and primarily driven by microbial communities. Metagenomic approaches have provided key insights on microbial communities in these systems and how they may adapt to stressors and contribute towards mediating crucial biogeochemical cycles. Here we review, the current knowledge regarding edaphic-based microbial diversity and functional processes in Antarctica, and the Artic. Such insights are crucial and help to establish a baseline for understanding the impact of climate change on Polar Regions. AddressCentre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa Corresponding author: Cowan, Don Arthur (don.cowan@up.ac.za) IntroductionThe Congress of Parties (COP) 21 meeting in Paris (November 2015) highlighted the urgency of global climate change, and the critical need to reduce global average temperatures through curbing greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Nowhere are the effects of global change more apparent than in cold environments (polar and alpine regions), which are subject to accelerated rates of warming compared to other ecosystems [2 ,3]. Climatic models have predicted that temperatures in high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to increase by between 0.38C and 4.88C before the end of the twenty first century [4]. There is also evidence that regions in the Southern Hemisphere have experienced the fastest warming globally, with average increases of as much as 2.48C in the last fifty years [5].A major consequence of climate change in cold environments is the thawing of submerged and surface ice, which alters the hydrology of the systems and may have adverse effects on microbial processes [6 ]. In cold environments, microorganisms (bacteria, archaea and fungi) are major constituents of the total biomass, and are estimated to mediate the cycling of key biogeochemical elements such as nitrogen and carbon, with potentially important implications for the productivity of these systems [7]. Although the precise contribution of microbial processes to global change processes are not well known, there are efforts to incorporate biological processes into Earth systems models with the realization that they may be crucial in regulating soil organic matter (SOM) [8 ]. For instance, permafrost (defined as ground which remains frozen for at least two years) in cold environments stores roughly 1600 Pg of carbon, which if released would significantly contribute towards increasing global CO 2 levels [9]. The current contribution of microbial communities to constraining carbon losses in permafrost and the influence on CO 2 levels remains virtually unknown. In ...

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Section: Microbial Diversity In Cold Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial diversity and functional capacity in polar soils

Makhalanyane

Goethem

Cowan

2016

Current Opinion in Biotechnology

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“…Polar regions (Antarctica and the arctic) are well known for extreme environmental conditions which are too harsh for the survival of most life. Makhalanyane et al (2015) describe the cyanobacterial biodiversity of these regions, their adaptative mechanisms, and the essential ecosystem services they provide, particularly as mediators of biogeochemical cycles. de los Ríos et al (2015) present original research on the extent of cyanobacterial biodiversity in arctic lakes, ponds and streams which contribute significantly to total ecosystem biomass and productivity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyanobacterial biodiversity and associated ecosystem services: introduction to the special issue

Chaurasia

2015

Biodivers Conserv

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“…While this is clearly advantageous to soil surface dwelling biocrust communities, it is also a potential hazard to be physically constrained in this way, because soils may be buried by dust or submerged under flood waters. Some organisms will overcome such hazards with adaptations for aquatic life or vegetative migration in the soil, and these properties are well known among cyanobacteria (e.g., Makhalanyane et al, ; Felde et al, ). Another likely adaptation is to promote destabilization of the biocrust to enable dispersal by the wind, which would lead to dust production and the transport of nutrients out of the soil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Stability in Drylands Is Influenced by Dispersal Strategy of Soil Bacteria

et al. 2019

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Microbial adaptations for survival and dispersal may directly influence landscape stability and potential for dust emission in drylands where biological soil crusts (biocrusts) protect mineral soil surfaces from wind erosion. In the Lake Eyre basin of central Australia we operated a wind tunnel on sandy soils and collected the liberated material, which was subjected to DNA sequencing to identify the microbial community composition. Microbial composition of entrained dust was compared with that of the source sand dune soil in addition to nearby claypan and nebkha soils and water channels that together form a recycling sediment transport system. Wind was found to preferentially liberate 359 identified taxa from sand dunes, whereas 137 identified taxa were found to resist wind erosion. Water channel communities included many taxa in common with the soil samples. We hypothesize that the ease with which soil microbes become airborne is often linked to whether the organism is adapted for dispersal by wind or vegetative growth and that biocrust organisms found in water channels may sometimes use a fluvial dispersal strategy, which exploits rare flooding events to rapidly colonize vast pans that are common in drylands. We explain likely geomorphic implications of microbial dispersal strategies which are a consequence of organisms engineering the environment to provide their particular needs. By identifying microbes fitting expectations for these dispersal strategies based on differential abundance analyses, we provide a new perspective for understanding the role of microbiota in landscape stability.

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Ecology and biogeochemistry of cyanobacteria in soils, permafrost, aquatic and cryptic polar habitats

Cited by 68 publications

References 160 publications

Microbial diversity and functional capacity in polar soils

Microbial diversity and functional capacity in polar soils

Cyanobacterial biodiversity and associated ecosystem services: introduction to the special issue

Surface Stability in Drylands Is Influenced by Dispersal Strategy of Soil Bacteria

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