Abstract
Climate warming is likely to have pronounced impacts on soil biota in arctic ecosystems. In a warmer climate, heatwaves are more frequent and intense, but it is unclear to what extent soil communities are buffered against this. We studied the effects of an artificially induced heatwave on the structure of testate amoebae communities in dry heath tundra in Qeqertarsuaq (Disko Island, West Greenland) during the summer of 2003. While the heatwave was severe enough to induce significant leaf mortality in the aboveground vegetation, overall testate amoebae abundance did not react to the difference in temperature. However, in the heated plots transient shifts in species populations occurred during the exposure, followed by increases in species richness weeks after the heatwave had ended. The most important taxa appearing after the heating period belonged to bacterivorous genera, in agreement with a transient peak in bacterial colony forming units, caused by the heatwave. Lobose testate amoebae resisted the heating and its associated desiccation better than their filose counterparts.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the University of Copenhagen for providing access to, and logistics at, the Arctic Station located on Disko Island, Greenland. This study was supported by the Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders (FWO, Belgium) under contract G.0357.02, and also by a grant to BJG by The National Science Foundation Denmark under contract 21-02-0515.
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Appendix: List of observed taxa, with abbreviations used in the figures
Appendix: List of observed taxa, with abbreviations used in the figures
Arcella arenaria | ARCARE |
Assulina muscorum | ASSMUS |
Centropyxis aerophila | CENAER |
Centropyxis cassis | CENCAS |
Centropyxis constricta | CENCON |
Centropyxis laevigata | CENLAE |
Centropyxis minuta | CENMIN |
Centropyxis orbicularis | CENORB |
Centropyxis platystoma | CENPLA |
Centropyxis sp2 | CENSP2 |
Corythion dubium | CORDUB |
Corythion pulchellum | CORPUL |
Cryptodifflugia compressa | CRYCOM |
Cyclopyxis eurystoma | CYCEUR |
Cyclopyxis kahli | CYCKAH |
Cyclopyxis sp1 | CYCSP1 |
Cyclopyxis sp2 | CYCSP2 |
Difflugia globulus | DIFGLO |
Difflugia pristis | DIFPRI |
Difflugia pulex | DIFPUL |
Difflugia sp1 | DIFSP1 |
Difflugia tenuis | DIFTEN |
Difflugiella oviformis | DILOVI |
Difflugiella sacculus | DILSAC |
Difflugiella vanhoornii | DILVAN |
Euglypha ciliata | EUGCIL |
Euglypha ciliata glabra | EUGCIG |
Euglypha compressa | EUGCOM |
Euglypha compressa f. glabra | EUGCOG |
Euglypha cristata | EUGCRI |
Euglypha cristata var. decora | EUGCRD |
Euglypha dolioliformis | EUGDOL |
Euglypha laevis | EUGLAE |
Euglypha polylepis | EUGPOL |
Euglypha rotunda | EUGROT |
Euglypha rotunda var. minima | EUGROM |
Euglypha sp2 | EUGSP2 |
Euglypha sp4 | EUGSP4 |
Euglypha sp9 | EUGSP9 |
Euglypha strigosa | EUGSTR |
Euglypha strigosa f. glabra | EUGSTG |
Euglypha tuberculata | EUGTUB |
Heleopera petricola | HELPET |
Heleopera sylvatica | HELSYL |
Heleopera sp2 | HELSP2 |
Microchlamys patella | MICPAT |
Nebela collaris | NEBCOL |
Nebela dentistoma | NEBDEN |
Nebela lageniformis | NEBLAG |
Nebela penardiana | NEBPEN |
Nebela wailesii | NEBWAI |
Phryganella haemispherica | PHRHAE |
Plagiopyxis callida | PLACAL |
Plagiopyxis declivis | PLADEC |
Tracheleuglypha dentata | TRADEN |
Tracheleuglypha sp2 | TRASP2 |
Trachelocorythion pulchellum | TRAPUL |
Trinema complanatum | TRICOM |
Trinema enchelys | TRIENC |
Trinema grandis | TRIGRA |
Trinema lineare | TRILIN |
Trinema penardii | TRIPEN |
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Beyens, L., Ledeganck, P., Graae, B.J. et al. Are soil biota buffered against climatic extremes? An experimental test on testate amoebae in arctic tundra (Qeqertarsuaq, West Greenland). Polar Biol 32, 453–462 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0540-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0540-y