Chinese Journal of Polar Research

ADVANCES IN POLAR SCIENCE ›› 2015, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 246-254.

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BACTERIAL COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND ABUNDANCE OF PLANKTONIC BACTERIA IN ARCTIC KONGSFJORDEN IN THE SUMMER OF 2011

Qiao Zongyun1,2, Zeng Yinxin1,2, Dong Peiyan3,4, Zheng Tianling3,4   

  1. 1 College of Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China； 2 SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China； 3 Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China 4 State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
  • Received:2014-03-31 Revised:2014-05-04 Online:2015-09-30 Published:2015-09-30
  • Contact: Zeng Yinxin

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Abstract: Bacteria are one of major components of the marine food web and play an important role in marine ecosystems. High abundance of bacteria has been reported in the Arctic Kongsfjorden. Being a typical Arctic fjord, the Kongsfjorden is part of the north-western coast of Svalbard. Freshwater input from glaciers inevitably affects the bacterial communities in Kongsfjorden during summer season. Community fingerprint analysis of surface water and sediment samples collected in the summer of 2011 was performed by using a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) approach. Sediment bacterial communities were found to show higher diversity index than surface seawater. Due to the influence of terrestrial freshwater input, sediments from station with water deeper than 200 m showed different bacterial communities from surface seawaters, as well as the sediment from station with water shallower than 40 m. Differences in bacterioplankton community compositions were also observed between the inner and outer part of the fjord. Sequences of DGGE bands fell into six major lineages of the domain Bacteria, includingα-,γ- andδ-Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. In contrast to similar abundance of planktonic bacteria between the outer and inner part of Kongsfjorden on the basis of quantitative PCR (QPCR) assay, higher abundance of Roseobacter clade was detected in the outer part than inner part of the fjord. Results in this study suggest that, compared to outer part, inner part of Kongsfjorden were more affected by terrestrial freshwater input, resulting in differences in bacterial community composition as well as abundance of specific bacterial species. In addition, compared to investigation in the summer of 2007, lower diversity of planktonic bacteria was found in this study. Whether those differences reflect the response of bacterial communities in Kongsfjorden to global climate change remains uncertain.

Key words: Arctic Kongsfjorden, bacterial diversity, PCR-DGGE, PCR

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