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Survival and colonisation potential of photoautotrophic microorganisms within a glacierised catchment on Svalbard, High Arctic

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Abstract

The survival and colonisation potential of photoautotrophic microbes (cyanobacteria and microalgae) were investigated in three terrestrial environments within a glacierised catchment on Svalbard: old vegetation-covered soil, recently deglaciated barren soil and subglacial sediments. One-year reciprocal transplant incubations of photoautotrophic microbial communities from the three soil/sediment environments were conducted in order to reveal the autochthonous or allochthonous origin of the present photoautotrophs. The abundance and taxonomic composition of photoautotrophic microbes and their changes over time and between soil/sediment types and physico-chemical characteristics of the soils/sediments were determined. The recovery time of a photoautotrophic community by import of cells was between several months in subglacial and vegetated soils and up to 27 years in proglacial soils. No active growth was recorded in subglacial sediments, whilst positive growth, and so the potential for autochthonous recovery, was found in proglacial and vegetated soils. The most suitable environment for the survival of transplanted microbes was provided in proglacial soil. We show here that the new proglacial substrata can be successfully colonised by photoautotrophic microbes, and that input of allochthonous cells may, in some cases, exceed in situ microbial growth. Whilst the subglacial environment is rather a conduit for photoautotrophic microbes than a place of growth and production, the supply of viable photoautotrophs in it is relatively high and may serve as a significant resource of nutrients for subglacial microbial communities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Program Support of Targeted Research in the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AV 0Z60050516) and by the grant GA ASCR KJB6005409. The University of Wrocław kindly enabled us to stay at Baranowski station. J. Elster stimulated this research and helped with sample collection. Field assistance by S. Řehák is also greatly acknowledged. Many thanks to N.Wright for the language corrections in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Dukelská 135, Třeboň, 379 82, Czech Republic

    Klára Řeháková, Marek Stibal & Marie Šabacká

  2. Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Marek Stibal

  3. Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, USA

    Marie Šabacká

  4. Speleo-Řehák, Semily, Czech Republic

    Josef Řehák

Authors
  1. Klára Řeháková
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  2. Marek Stibal
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  3. Marie Šabacká
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  4. Josef Řehák
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Correspondence to Klára Řeháková.

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Řeháková, K., Stibal, M., Šabacká, M. et al. Survival and colonisation potential of photoautotrophic microorganisms within a glacierised catchment on Svalbard, High Arctic. Polar Biol 33, 737–745 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0751-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0751-x

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