Differences in Bacterial Diversity and Communities Between Glacial Snow and Glacial Soil on the Chongce Ice Cap, West Kunlun Mountains.
A detailed understanding of microbial ecology in different supraglacial habitats is important due to the unprecedented speed of glacier retreat. Differences in bacterial diversity and community structure between glacial snow and glacial soil on the Chongce Ice Cap were assessed using 454 pyrosequencing. Based on rarefaction curves, Chao1, ACE, and Shannon indices, we found that bacterial diversity in glacial snow was lower than that in glacial soil. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and heatmap analysis indicated that there were major differences in bacterial communities between glacial snow and glacial soil. Most bacteria were different between the two habitats; however, there were some common bacteria shared between glacial snow and glacial soil. Some rare or functional bacterial resources were also present in the Chongce Ice Cap. These findings provide a preliminary understanding of the shifts in bacterial diversity and communities from glacial snow to glacial soil after the melting and inflow of glacial snow into glacial soil.
Department of Life Science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China.
Guang Li
GL
Yang
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Shu Gui
SG
Hou
Department of Life Science, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China.
Ri
R
Le Baoge
Department of Environment and Planning, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, China.
Zhi Guo
ZG
Li
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Hao
H
Xu
Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Ya Ping
YP
Liu
Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Wen Tao
WT
Du
Key Laboratory of  Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Yong Qin
YQ
Liu
D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000382:microbiology*; D012914:Snow / Q000382:microbiology*; D012987:Soil
D012987:Soil