Pioneer Microbial Communities of the FimmvorA degrees uhals Lava Flow, Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland

Laura C. Kelly*, Charles S. Cockell, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, Viggo Marteinsson, John Stevenson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Little is understood regarding the phylogeny and metabolic capabilities of the earliest colonists of volcanic rocks, yet these data are essential for understanding how life becomes established in and interacts with the planetary crust, ultimately contributing to critical zone processes and soil formation. Here, we report the use of molecular and culture-dependent methods to determine the composition of pioneer microbial communities colonising the basaltic FimmvorA degrees uhals lava flow at Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, formed in 2010. Our data show that 3 to 5 months post eruption, the lava was colonised by a low-diversity microbial community dominated by Betaproteobacteria, primarily taxa related to non-phototrophic diazotrophs such as Herbaspirillum spp. and chemolithotrophs such as Thiobacillus. Although successfully cultured following enrichment, phototrophs were not abundant members of the FimmvorA degrees uhals communities, as revealed by molecular analysis, and phototrophy is therefore not likely to be a dominant biogeochemical process in these early successional basalt communities. These results contrast with older Icelandic lava of comparable mineralogy, in which phototrophs comprised a significant fraction of microbial communities, and the non-phototrophic community fractions were dominated by Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)504-518
Number of pages15
JournalMicrobial Ecology
Volume68
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • HAWAIIAN VOLCANIC DEPOSITS
  • RIBOSOMAL-RNA GENES
  • BACTERIAL DIVERSITY
  • ENVIRONMENTAL-SAMPLES
  • OXIDIZING BACTERIA
  • PCR PRIMERS
  • SUCCESSION
  • SOIL
  • GLACIER
  • IMPACT

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