title: Peatland Microbial Communities as Indicators of the Extreme Atmospheric Dust Deposition.
abstract: We investigated a peat profile from the Izery Mountains, located within the so-called Black Triangle, the border area of Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany. This peatland suffered from an extreme atmospheric pollution during the last 50 years, which created an exceptional natural experiment to examine the impact of pollution on peatland microbes. Testate amoebae (TA),Centropyxis aerophilaandPhryganella acropodia, were distinguished as a proxy of atmospheric pollution caused by extensive brown coal combustion. We recorded a decline of mixotrophic TA and development of agglutinated taxa as a response for the extreme concentration of Al (30 g kg-1) and Cu (96 mg kg-1) as well as the extreme amount of fly ash particles determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, which were used by TA for shell construction. Titanium (5.9 %), aluminum (4.7 %), and chromium (4.2 %) significantly explained the highest percentage of the variance in TA data. Elements such as Al, Ti, Cr, Ni, and Cu were highly correlated (r> 0.7,p< 0.01) with pseudostome position/body size ratio and pseudostome position. Changes in the community structure, functional diversity, and mechanisms of shell construction were recognized as the indicators of dust pollution. We strengthen the importance of the TA as the bioindicators of the recent atmospheric pollution.
authors: Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł
authors: Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Smieja-Król
authors: Department of Neutron Activation Analysis, Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russian Federation.
authors: T M
authors: TM
authors: Ostrovnaya
authors: Department of Neutron Activation Analysis, Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russian Federation.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Frontasyeva
authors: Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Siemińska
authors: Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland ; Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Management & Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland ; Department of Meteorology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Piątkowska 94, 60-649 Poznań, Poland.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Lamentowicz
keywords: Fly ash particles; Pollution; Proxy; Testate amoebae