Abstract
Due to deposition of birds' guano, eggshells or feathers, the vicinity of a large seabirds' breeding colony is expected to have a substantial impact on the soil's physicochemical features as well as on diversity of vegetation and the soil invertebrates. Consequently, due to changing physicochemical features the structure of bacterial communities might fluctuate in different soil environments. The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial assemblages in the Arctic soil within the area of a birds' colony and in a control sample from a topographically similar location but situated away from the colony's impact area. A high number of OTUs found in both areas indicates a highly complex microbial populations structure. The most abundant phyla in both of the tested samples were: Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi, with different proportions in the total share. Despite differences in the physicochemical soil characteristics, the soil microbial community structures at the phylum level were similar to some extent in the two samples. The only share that was significantly higher in the control area when compared to the sample obtained within the birds' colony, belonged to the Actinobacteria phylum. Moreover, when analyzing the class level for each phylum, several differences between the samples were observed. Furthermore, lower proportions of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were observed in the soil sample under the influence of the bird's colony, which most probably could be linked to higher nitrogen concentrations in that sample.
Highlights
The high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, with Spitsbergen being the largest island, is a breeding ground for many seabirds, including the little auk (Alle alle) which is considered to be the most numerous seabird species in the Palearctic
Seabird guano is one of the three major nitrogen sources in the polar terrestrial ecosystems, the tundra fertilization by seabirds is unevenly distributed over time and space as a consequence of patchy distribution of bird colonies and their short breeding period
Deposition of nutrient-rich guano by little auks considerably changes the physicochemical parameters of the soil in the vicinity of the bird colony (Zwolicki et al, 2013)
Summary
The high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, with Spitsbergen being the largest island, is a breeding ground for many seabirds, including the little auk (Alle alle) which is considered to be the most numerous seabird species in the Palearctic. The little auk population in Hornsund exceeds one million members and is one of the largest colonies in the world (Isaksen, 1995) Birds arrive at this colony area in large numbers in mid-April and stay there until late August (Stempniewicz, 2001). Marine birds that forage at sea and breed on land deposit large amounts of guano, eggshells, feathers, and carcasses near their colonies. This large-scale transport of organic and inorganic matter from the sea to the land is crucial for many Arctic and Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems (Stempniewicz et al, 2007; Zwolicki et al, 2015).
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