Successional trajectories of cyanobacterial communities following glacier retreat in Svalbard (High Arctic)

The effects of global warming are pronounced at high northern latitudes, where the warming trend observed for the past decades is almost twice as the global average. Most glaciers in Svalbard (High Arctic) have been retreating and thinning since the end of the Little Ice Age in the late 19th century, and retreat rates have increased substantially in the last decades. As a glacier retreats, it systematically exposes new terrestrial habitats for the colonization by pioneering (micro)organisms. Distance from the glacier terminus can be used as a proxy for time since deglaciation, which makes glacier forefields well suited for the study of primary succession. In the present study, we investigated the successional trajectories of cyanobacterial communities along a 100-year deglaciation gradient in the forefield of two Svalbard glaciers (Ebba- and Hørbyebreen). Cyanobacterial abundance was assessed by epifluorescence microscopy and cyanobacterial diversity was investigated by pyrosequencing of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences. Filamentous cyanobacteria were more abundant than unicellular and heterocystous cyanobacteria in both forefields, and an increase in the abundance of cyanobacteria was observed along the deglaciation gradients. Pseudanabaenales was the most OTU-rich order, followed by Chroococcales, Oscillatoriales, Synechococcales, Nostocales and Gloeobacterales. At the genus level, classified phylotypes were assigned to Leptolyngbya, Phormidium, Nostoc, Pseudanabaena, Chroococcidiopsis and Microcoleus. Interestingly, OTU richness increased along the deglaciation gradient in Ebbabreen, but an inverse correlation was observed in Hørbyebreen. Beta diversity estimations indicated contrasting cyanobacterial phylogenetic structures along the temporal gradient, with a clear separation of initial (10-20 years), intermediate (30-50) and advanced (80-100) communities. Time since deglaciation accounted for around 25% of the phylogenetic variability in both forefields, with organic carbon content also explaining a significant proportion of community turnover along the deglaciation gradients. Taxonomic composition was somewhat constant along the deglaciation gradient, but OTUs associated with initial communities were related to sequences predominantely restricted to polar biotopes, while advanced communities included phylotypes related to cosmopolitan taxa.