Title
Environmental Controls on Microbial Diversity in Arctic Lakes of West Greenland
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-18-2019
Department
Biology
Language
English
Publication Title
Microbial Ecology
Abstract
We assessed the microbial community structure of six arctic lakes in West Greenland and investigated relationships to lake physical and chemical characteristics. Lakes from the ice sheet region exhibited the highest species richness, while inland and plateau lakes had lower observed taxonomical diversity. Lake habitat differentiation during summer stratification appeared to alter within lake microbial community composition in only a subset of lakes, while lake variability across regions was a consistent driver of microbial community composition in these arctic lakes. Principal coordinate analysis revealed differentiation of communities along two axes: each reflecting differences in morphometric (lake surface area), geographic (latitude and distance from the ice sheet), physical lake variables (water clarity), and lakewater chemistry (dissolved organic carbon [DOC], dissolved oxygen [DO], total nitrogen [TN], and conductivity). Understanding these relationships between environmental variables and microbial communities is especially important as heterotrophic microorganisms are key to organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and carbon flow through nutrient poor aquatic environments in the Arctic.
DOI
10.1007/s00248-019-01474-9
Recommended Citation
Somers, Dana J., Kristin E. Strock, and Jasmine E. Saros. "Environmental Controls on Microbial Diversity in Arctic Lakes of West Greenland." Microbial Ecology 80 (2020): 60-72. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00248-019-01474-9
Comments
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