Snowstorm Enhanced the Deterministic Processes of the Microbial Community in Cryoconite at Laohugou Glacier, Tibetan Plateau

Frontiers in Microbiology

Yongqin Liu¹  Mukan Ji¹  Keshao Liu²  Yuying Chen²  Yang Li³ 

[1] Center for the Pan-Third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China;College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming, China;State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;

关键词: cryoconite;    snowfall;    rare bacteria;    deterministic processes;    stochastic processes;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2021.784273

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Cryoconites harbor diverse microbial communities and are the metabolic hotspot in the glacial ecosystem. Glacial ecosystems are subjected to frequent climate disturbances such as precipitation (snowing), but little is known about whether microbial communities in cryoconite can maintain stability under such disturbance. Here, we investigated the bacterial community in supraglacial cryoconite before and after a snowfall event on the Laohugou Glacier (Tibetan Plateau), based on Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results showed that the diversity of the microbial community significantly decreased, and the structure of the microbial community changed significantly after the disturbance of snowfall. This was partly due to the relative abundance increased of cold-tolerant bacterial taxa, which turned from rare into abundant sub-communities. After snowfall disturbance, the contribution of the deterministic process increased from 38 to 67%, which is likely due to the enhancement of environmental filtering caused by nitrogen limitation. These findings enhanced our understanding of the distribution patterns and assembly mechanisms of cryoconite bacterial communities on mountain glaciers.

【 授权许可】

Unknown