Survey of Bacterial Phylogenetic Diversity During the Glacier Melting Season in an Arctic Fjord

To understand bacterial biogeography in response to the hydrographic impact of climate change derived from the Arctic glacier melting, we surveyed bacterial diversity and community composition using bacterial 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding in the seawaters of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, during summer 2016. In the present study, bacterial biogeography in the Kongsfjorden seawaters showed distinct habitat patterns according to water mass classification and habitat transition between Atlantic and fjord surface waters. Moreover, we estimated phylogenetic diversity of bacterial communities using the net relatedness, nearest taxon, and beta nearest taxon indices. We found the influence of freshwater input from glacier melting in shaping bacterial assemblage composition through the stochastic model. We further evaluated bacterial contributions to phytoplankton-derived dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) using a quantitative PCR (qPCR) measurement with demethylation (dmdA) and cleavage (dddP) genes of two fundamentally different processes. Our qPCR results imply that bacterial DMSP degradation follows the Atlantic inflow during summer in Kongsfjorden. These findings suggest that the Atlantic inflow and glacial melting influence bacterial community composition and assembly processes and thus affect the degradation of phytoplankton-derived organic matter in an Arctic fjord.

Automated summary

Through a study of bacterial diversity and community composition in the seawaters of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, we found distinct patterns in bacterial biogeography shaped by the influence of Atlantic inflow and glacial melting. Utilizing various indices, we assessed the phylogenetic diversity of bacterial communities and observed the impact of freshwater input from glacier melting on bacterial assemblage composition.