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Dominant Bacteria in Soils of Marble Point and Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica

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Dominant Bacteria in Soils of Marble Point and Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica ARTICLE IN PRESS Soil Biology & Biochemistry 38 (2006) 3041–3056 www.elsevier.com/locate/soilbio Dominant bacteria in soils of Marble Point and Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica Jackie. M. Aislabiea,Ã, Kim-Ly Chhourb, David J. Saulb, Shingo Miyauchib, Julie Aytonb, Ron F. Paetzoldc, Megan R. Balksd aLandcare Research, Private Bag 3127, Hamilton, New Zealand bSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand cPrivate Consultant, 2915 Cortez Court, College Station, Texas, 77845, USA dEarth Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand Received 1 September 2005; received in revised form 10 February 2006; accepted 22 February 2006 Available online 4 April 2006 Abstract A combination of culture-independent and culturing methods was used to assess the diversity of soil bacterial communities from four locations along 77 1S in Victoria Land, Antarctica. Soil samples were from the coast at Marble Point, in the Wright Valley from Bull Pass and near Lake Vanda, and from Mt. Fleming near the polar plateau. Total carbon and nitrogen, and water content of the soils were low, whereas total P was very high. The pH of the soils varied from extremely alkaline to slightly acid and electrical conductivity was medium to high on the coast and very high in inland soils from Bull Pass and Mt. Fleming. The average monthly air temperature was similar (À18 1CtoÀ24 1C) at all the sites; however, in summer surface soil temperatures were 40 1C at Marble Point and in the Wright Valley for a total of 1100 and 1700 h, respectively. Marble Point soil had the most potential to support bacterial growth and activity with a mean total of 310 h per year when surface soils had a liquid volumetric soil moisture content 45%. Highest counts of culturable heterotrophs occurred in soil from Marble Point, whereas Mt. Fleming soil contained few organisms and had no liquid soil moisture recorded. Seven hundred and twenty-eight clones and 71 bacterial isolates were screened by restriction fragment length polymorphisms, and representatives of those dominant ribotypes that occurred more than 3 times were sequenced. The dominant ribotypes grouped within the bacterial divisions Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Thermus-Deinococcus, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria. The closest relatives of the amplicon library clones or cultured bacteria include the genera Hymenobacter, Gillisia, Arthrobacter, Rubrobacter, Friedmanniella, Deinococcus and Leptolyngbya. Many of the clones and bacteria were most similar to others from Antarctic sources, in particular a cyanobacterium-dominated cryptoendolithic community in Beacon sandstone. Some ribotypes were more prevalent in drier soils of the Wright Valley, including relatives of Deinococcus, Rubrobacter and clone FBP460 from Beacon sandstone. Bacterial communities from Marble Point soils were more diverse than those of the Wright Valley. Very few bacteria were isolated from Mt. Fleming soil. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Bacterial diversity; Antarctic soil; Soil temperature; Soil water; Victoria Land 1. Introduction environment for plant and animal life. Although few animals and plants have managed to colonise and survive In the virtual absence of plants, soils of Victoria Land, in the soil, bacteria are distributed throughout. Antarctica, are microbially dominated ecosystems. The Most investigations of bacteria in soils of Victoria Land prevailing low temperatures, low humidity, freeze–thaw have focused on the abundance and diversity of culturable cycles, and salinity of soils combine to create a harsh bacteria in the Dry Valleys. Numbers of culturable bacteria in Dry Valley soils range from 0 to107 colony-forming units À1 ÃCorresponding author. Tel.: +64 7 858 3713; fax: +64 7 858 4964. (CFU) g dried soil (Boyd et al., 1966; Cameron et al., E-mail address: [email protected] (J.M. Aislabie). 1970). Numbers of bacteria in the subsurface soils from the 0038-0717/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2006.02.018 ARTICLE IN PRESS 3042 J.M. Aislabie et al. / Soil Biology & Biochemistry 38 (2006) 3041–3056 moist layer above the ice-cemented layer were as high, or The objective of this study was to assess the bacterial higher, than those in surface soils. Ecological factors that community in soils of Victoria Land, in a range of soil- influence the distribution of culturable bacteria in the Dry climate conditions, using a combination of culture-inde- Valleys include slope, drainage, exposure, available moist- pendent and traditional culturing methods. The focus of ure, salt concentration and available nutrients (Cameron et this study was the dominant bacteria in the soils. The soils al., 1970). Bacteria cultured from the soils were aerobic were sampled from four locations along 77 1S latitude from heterotrophs, with pigmented colonies prevalent on media the Antarctic coast inland along the Wright Valley towards inoculated with surface soils, and non-pigmented colonies the polar plateau. The bacterial diversity of the soils is dominating subsurface soils. In the absence of molecular related to local soil temperature and moisture regimes. tools, most of the bacteria were identified as Coryneforms belonging to the genera Corynebacterium, Arthrobacter, 2. Materials and methods Micrococcus and Brevibacterium. Bacillus and the Gram- negative genera Pseudomonas and Flavobacterium were rare 2.1. Site location and analyses of soil (Johnson et al., 1978). These studies led to the conclusion that bacteria from Antarctic soils maybe cosmopolitan, Soil samples were collected from four sites located near similar to those found in soils worldwide. The increased use the coast at Marble Point, in the Wright Valley at Bull of 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis is, Pass, and near Lake Vanda (referred to throughout as however, beginning to provide new insights into the Vanda) and on Mt. Fleming near the polar plateau (Fig. 1; diversity of Antarctic bacteria and novel bacteria have Table 1). Pits were dug at the sites, and soil samples been described from Dry Valley soils (Hirsch et al., 1998; collected for analysis using an ethanol-swabbed trowel. Mevs et al., 2000). The narrow distinct surface desert pavement layer, and the A major limitation of bacterial diversity studies focused layer immediately below the surface were sampled except at on culturable bacteria is that many bacteria present in the Vanda site where the narrow distinct surface layer plus environmental samples are not readily cultured using 2 soil depths from deeper in the soil profile were sampled. traditional approaches, hence diversity is underestimated. The depths chosen were based on pedological descriptions Culture-independent methods involving total community of the soil materials (Table 1). Soil samples for chemical DNA extraction and characterisation of 16S rRNA gene and microbial analysis were placed in sterile Whirl-Pak amplicon libraries, now allow assessment of the composi- bags (Nasco), frozen at À20 1C, and transported to New tion of in situ bacterial communities without the need to Zealand for processing. culture. Application of DNA-based methods have greatly Soil samples were analysed for water content, pH, expanded knowledge of the bacterial composition of electrical conductivity, total phosphorus, and nitrate-N unique Antarctic ecosystems of the Victoria Land includ- using standard methods (Blakemore et al., 1987). Total ing lake ice (Gordon et al., 2000), microbial mats carbon and total nitrogen were determined using a Leco (Brambilla et al., 2001), cryptoendolithic communities (de FP-2000 analyser. la Torre et al., 2003) and cryoconite holes (Christner et al., For total microbial counts, cells in soil suspensions in 2003). 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) were immobilised on Fig. 1. Satellite photo showing the location of soil sampling sites (designated by a star) and surrounding areas (available from http://usarc.usgs.gov/ antogc-viewer/declasdownload.htm). ARTICLE IN PRESS J.M. Aislabie et al. / Soil Biology & Biochemistry 38 (2006) 3041–3056 3043 Table 1 Geographical, geological and pedological characteristics of the different sites Site Location Marble Point Near Lake Vanda Bull Pass Mt. Fleming Coordinates 771250S 1631410E771310S 1611400E771310S 1611520E771330S 1601170E Site description Marble Point former On a bedrock ridge about 400 m E of Bull Pass camp Within Cirque at head of camp, 60 m E of lake 200 m southwest of the old in Wright Valley. Slope of Wright Valley, on ablation edge. Slope of 31 to East, Vanda Station and about 41 to S, 152 m a.s.l. moraine in very coarse 50 m a.s.l. 100 m SE of Lake Vanda, patterned ground in the centre 296 m a.s.l. of a patterned ground polygon, 1697 m a.s.l. Lithology Marble dominated till Granodiorite bedrock, Granite dominated till Dolerite-dominated surface with granite, dolerite, weathered in situ with granite with dolerite and pavement over quartz and sandstone and gneiss dominated till material sandstone present feldspar-dominated ablation till Soil classification Hypergelic Calcic Lithic Anhyorthel Hypergilic Nitric Glacic Anhyorthel Anhyorthel Anhyorthel Brief soil description 2 cm of desert pavement Soil material was formed in 2 cm of gravel desert Strongly oxidised desert gravels over sandy gravel joints between large (20–80 cm pavement over 1+ m of pavement of ventefacted with 430% boulders/ diameter) granodiorite silt with a few large rocks. boulders, through gravels, stones. Ice-dominated bedrock angular blocks. Soil Visible salt accumulation over 5 cm of bouldery gravely horizon from 87 to 100+ material comprised gravely on profile face. No ice sand, over 40 cm of gravely cm sand derived predominantly cement silty fine sand, ice-cored from granites, granodiorites moraine at 45 cm and dolerite rocks gelatin-coated slides (Zarda et al., 1997), then stained with presented here were collected over the summers of 99/00, diphenylamidinoindophenol (DAPI) and counted using 00/01 and 01/02 for the Marble Point and Bull Pass sites epifluorescence microscopy (Bottomley, 1994). Numbers of and January 02 to January 03 for Mt.
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