Soils of MacRobertson Land

Мергелов, Н. С.; Konyushkov, D. E.; Лупачев, А. В.; Goryachkin, S. V.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05497-1_5

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Detailed descriptions of pedogenetic and physicochemical features of the aforementioned soils exist in the literature (Goryachkin et al 2012; Mergelov et al 2012, 2015, 2016; Balks et al 2013; Mergelov 2014; Zazovskaya et al 2014, 2015; Dolgikh et al 2015).…”

Section: Objects and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

et al. 2016

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This article discusses radiocarbon dating results for soils and soil-like systems in the East Antarctic oases, including Schirmacher, Thala Hills, and Larsemann Hills. The organic matter of endolithic and hypolithic systems, soils of wind shelters, and soils under moss-algae vegetation were dated along with micro- and macroprofiles. Organic matter pools formed under extreme climatic conditions and originated not from vascular plants but from cryptogamic organisms, and photoautotrophic microbes have been identified within the oases of the East Antarctica. The organic matter of the most of East Antarctic soils is young and cannot reach a steady state because of the high dynamism in the soil cover due to active erosion. The oldest soil organic matter in East Antarctica was found in the soils formed in wind shelters and endolithic soil-like systems under the protection of consolidated rock surfaces. According to our data, the maximal duration for the formation of organic matter profiles within the oases of East Antarctica is ~500 yr, which is similar to the age determined for High Arctic soils in Eurasia. The absence of older soils, comparable with the Holocene deglaciation, can be due to the extreme conditions resulting in occasional catastrophic events that destroyed the soil organic horizons.

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Section: Objects and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

et al. 2016

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“…The majority of Antarctic soils are extremely poor in water (<2%) and nutrients (Kennedy, 1993; Cary et al, 2010; Mergelov et al, 2015; Zazovskaya et al, 2015) as a result of centuries, or even millennia of extreme environmental conditions. Furthermore, the absence of vascular plants and large numbers of primary producers has resulted in soils containing only very low amounts of organic matter (Kennedy, 1993; Cary et al, 2010).…”

Section: The Antarctic Continentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach

2019

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Although Antarctica was once believed to be a sterile environment, it is now clear that the microbial communities inhabiting the Antarctic continent are surprisingly diverse. Until the beginning of the new millennium, little was known about the most abundant inhabitants of the continent: prokaryotes. From then on, however, the rising use of deep sequencing techniques has led to a better understanding of the Antarctic prokaryote diversity and provided insights in the composition of prokaryotic communities in different Antarctic environments. Although these cultivation-independent approaches can produce millions of sequences, linking these data to organisms is hindered by several problems. The largest difficulty is the lack of biological information on large parts of the microbial tree of life, arising from the fact that most microbial diversity on Earth has never been characterized in laboratory cultures. These unknown prokaryotes, also known as microbial dark matter, have been dominantly detected in all major environments on our planet. Laboratory cultures provide access to the complete genome and the means to experimentally verify genomic predictions and metabolic functions and to provide evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Without such well-documented reference data, microbial dark matter will remain a major blind spot in deep sequencing studies. Here, we review our current understanding of prokaryotic communities in Antarctic ice-free soils based on cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and how these strategies may be combined synergistically to strengthen each other and allow a more profound understanding of prokaryotic life on the frozen continent.

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“…The main limiting factor for soil formation in Eastern Antarctica oases is the lack of moisture. Melting snow in the summer months is the determining regulator of bio-and pedological diversity [5,46]. In conditions of very low liquid precipitation, low air humidity existence of living organisms is supported mostly by melting water from snow patches.…”

Section: Soil Physical-chemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eastern Antarctica oases are characterized by climatic extremality, which in turn determines the specificity of soil formation. Acute lack of moisture, ultraviolet radiation, sharp temperature changes and strong winds significantly reduce the primary production of organic matter and the formation of organogenic horizons on the surfaces of loose and rocky substrates that prevail in Eastern Antarctica oases [5]. An important feature of the landscapes of the oases is that most of the biomass is concentrated beneath the mineral surface, which greatly changes the vertical organization of the soil profile.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Communities in Permafrost Soils of Larsemann Hills, Eastern Antarctica: Environmental Controls and Effect of Human Impact

2020

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Although ice-free areas cover only about 0.1% of Antarctica and are characterized by harsh environmental conditions, these regions provide quite diverse conditions for the soil-forming process, having various physical and geochemical properties, and also assuring different conditions for living organisms. This study is aimed to determine existing soil microbial communities, their relationship with soil parameters and the influence of anthropogenic activity in Larsemann Hills, Eastern Antarctica. The soil microbiome was investigated at different locations using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. The taxonomic analysis of the soil microbiomes revealed 12 predominant bacterial and archaeal phyla—Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Bacteroidetes, Armatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Thaumarchaeota. Some specific phyla have been also found in sub-surface horizons of soils investigated, thus providing additional evidence of the crucial role of gravel pavement in saving the favorable conditions for both soil and microbiome development. Moreover, our study also revealed that some bacterial species might be introduced into Antarctic soils by human activities. We also assessed the effect of different soil parameters on microbial community in the harsh environmental conditions of Eastern Antarctica. pH, carbon and nitrogen, as well as fine earth content, were revealed as the most accurate predictors of soil bacterial community composition.

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Soils of MacRobertson Land

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

Radiocarbon Age of Soils in Oases of East Antarctica

Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach

Microbial Communities in Permafrost Soils of Larsemann Hills, Eastern Antarctica: Environmental Controls and Effect of Human Impact

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