02348nas a2200217   4500008004100000022001400041245012100055210006900176260001200245520149200257653001101749653001801760653002201778653001501800653001301815653001701828100002101845700002301866700002201889856021901911       2025                        eng d  a0954-102000aMicrobial mat activity and soil biogeochemistry across variable phosphorus availability in Taylor Valley, Antarctica0 aMicrobial mat activity and soil biogeochemistry across variable   c05/20253 a<p>Primary production is fundamental to ecosystems, and in many extreme environments production is facilitated by microbial mats. Microbial mats are complex assemblages of photo- and heterotrophic microorganisms colonizing sediment and soil surfaces. These communities are the dominant producers of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, where they occupy lentic and lotic environments as well as intermittently wet soils. While the influence of microbial mats on stream nutrient dynamics and lake organic matter cycling is well documented, the influence of microbial mats on underlying soil is less well understood, particularly the effects of microbial mat nitrogen and carbon fixation. Taylor Valley soils occur across variable levels of inorganic phosphorus availability, with the Ross Sea drift containing four times that of the Taylor drifts, providing opportunities to examine how soil geochemistry influences microbial mats and the ecological functions they regulate. We found that inorganic phosphorus availability is positively correlated with microbial mat biomass, pigment concentration and nitrogen fixation potential. Additionally, our results demonstrate that dense microbial mats influence the ecological functioning of underlying soils by enriching organic carbon and total nitrogen stocks (two times higher). This work contributes to ongoing questions regarding the sources of energy fuelling soil food webs and the regional carbon balance in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.</p>10acarbon10acyanobacteria10anitrogen fixation10aphosphorus10apigments10asoil ecology1 aPower, Sarah, N.1 aOsburn, Ernest, D.1 aBarrett, John, E.  uhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/microbial-mat-activity-and-soil-biogeochemistry-across-variable-phosphorus-availability-in-taylor-valley-antarctica/0655E2F09B8D6961618B8F396BA692F202739nas a2200217   4500008004100000245016100041210006900202260003400271490000900305520201700314653001102331653002402342653001802366653001302384653001502397653001702412653000902429100002202438700002202460856003902482       2023                        eng d00aInfluence of landscape-variation in geochemistry on taxonomic and functional composition of microbial mat communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica0 aInfluence of landscapevariation in geochemistry on taxonomic and  aBlacksburg, VAbVirginia Tech0 vM.S.3 a<p>Microbial communities play critical roles in biogeochemical cycles of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, but studies of soil microbial communities have been limited by the diversity and complexity found in most ecosystems. Here we report on work investigating the functional diversity of microbial mat and underlying soil communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica across a gradient of phosphorus availability on glacial tills of distinct age and mineral composition in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Microbial mat and soil DNA were extracted and sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq500 in a 150 bp paired end format. Raw sequences were uploaded to the MG-RAST server for processing and annotation. Community taxonomic and functional annotation were determined using the RefSeq and SEED Subsystem databases, respectively. The results revealed significant variation in microbial mat community taxonomic composition between the two tills, strongly associated with visual assessment of mat morphology, e.g., &quot;black&quot; and &quot;orange&quot; mats, and soil N:P ratios. The underlying soil microbial communities did not exhibit significant differences in diversity between the two tills, but community composition varied significantly across gradients of soil chemistry, particularly extractable-phosphate content even within tills. The relative abundance of biogeochemistry-relevant pathways determined from the SEED database varied amongst soil microbial communities between the two tills. For example, microbial mat communities exhibited significant variation in the relative abundance of key nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism associated genes strongly associated with the underlying soil N:P. These results suggest that spatial variation in geochemistry influences the distribution and activity of microbial mats, but that the microbial mats themselves also exert a significant homogenizing effect on the underlying soil communities and some of the key biogeochemical processes they facilitate.</p>10acarbon10amicrobial community10amicrobial mat10anitrogen10aphosphorus10apolar desert10asoil1 aRisteca, Paul, J.1 aBarrett, John, E.  uhttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/115384