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The Effect of Organic Carbon on Soil Bacterial Diversity in an Antarctic Lake Region

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Abstract

This study assessed the effects of changes in organic carbon content on soil bacterial community composition and diversity in the Antarctic Fildes Peninsula. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to investigate bacterial community composition. Firstly, we found that organic carbon (OrC) and nutrients showed an increasing trend in the lake area. Secondly, soil geochemistry changes affected microbial composition in the soil. Specifically, we found 3416 operational taxonomical units (OTUs) in 300 genera in five main phyla: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes. Although the diversity was similar among the four sites, the composition was different. Among them, Hungateii content changed very significantly, from 16.67% to 33.33%. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that most measured geochemical factors were relevant in structuring microbiomes, and organic carbon concentration showed the highest correlation, followed by NO3−-N. Hungateii was significantly correlated with the content of organic carbon. Our finding suggested organic carbon played an important role in soil bacterial communities of the Antarctic coastal lake region.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41776198), the Basic Scientific Fund for National Public Research Institutes of China (No. GY0219Q10), and the Development Fund of Marine Bioactive Substances, SOA (No. MBSMAT-2017-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Wenbing Han, Jinjiang Lv & Botao Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Marine Bioactive Substances, First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Nengfei Wang

  3. Department of Bioengineering, College of Marine Sciences and Biological Engineering, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Yue Ma

  4. School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Shuang Wang

  5. Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Zhihui Jiang

  6. Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Huansheng Cao

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  1. Wenbing Han
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Correspondence to Nengfei Wang.

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Han, W., Wang, N., Ma, Y. et al. The Effect of Organic Carbon on Soil Bacterial Diversity in an Antarctic Lake Region. J. Ocean Univ. China 18, 1402–1410 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-019-4097-x

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