Influence of microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica

Abstract

Abstract. Compared to the 1970s, the edge of the Ecology Glacier on King George Island, maritime Antarctica, is positioned more than 500 m inwards, exposing a large area of new terrain to soil-forming processes and periglacial climate for more than 40 years. To gain information on the state of soil formation and its interplay with microbial activity, three hyperskeletic Cryosols (vegetation cover of 0–80 %) in the recently ( 10 cm. In the foreland of the Ecology Glacier, the main soil-forming processes on a decadal timescale are acidification and accumulation of soil organic carbon and nitrogen, accompanied by changes in microbial abundances, microbial community compositions, and plant coverage, whereas quantifiable silicate weathering and the formation of pedogenic oxides occur on a centennial to a millennial timescale after deglaciation.

Heterogeneity of Microbial Communities in Soils From the Antarctic Peninsula Region

“…Although new ‘omics’ techniques have contributed greatly to a better understanding of communities inhabiting soils ( Smith et al, 2006 ; Krauze et al, 2020 ), this knowledge is quite fragmented, and results obtained from different studies are hardly comparable among them to obtain a clear idea about the distribution of microbial communities in polar regions. It is well known in other latitudes that the microbial communities are different along the soil profiles, with relevant heterogeneity in the distribution of the soil microorganisms in the same biotope ( Frey et al, 2013 ).…”