The retreating snowfields and glaciers of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, present alpine plants with changes in habitat and hydrology. The adjacent and relic periglacial patterned ground consists of solifluction terraces of green, vegetation-rich stripes alternating with sparsely vegetated brown stripes. We established georeferenced transects on striped periglacial patterned ground for long-term monitoring and data collection on species distribution and plant functional traits at Siyeh Pass and at Piegan Pass at Glacier National Park. We documented species distribution and calculated the relative percent cover (RPC) of qualitative functional traits and used 16S rRNA from soil samples to characterize microbial distribution on green and brown stripes. Plant species distribution varied significantly and there were key differences in microbial distribution between the green and brown stripes. The rare arctic-alpine plants Draba macounii, Papaver pygmaeum, and Sagina nivalis were restricted to brown stripes, where the RPC of xeromorphic taprooted species was significantly higher at the leading edge of the Siyeh Pass snowfield. Brown stripes had a higher percentage of the thermophilic bacteria Thermacetogenium and Thermoflavimicrobium. Green stripes were co-dominated by the adventitiously-rooted dwarf shrubs Salix arctica and the possibly N-fixing Dryas octopetala. Green stripes were inhabited by Krummholz and seedlings of Abies lasiocarpa and Pinus albicaulus. Prosthecobacter, a hydrophilic bacterial genus, was more abundant on the green stripes, which had 6,524 bacterial sequences in comparison to the 1,183 sequences from the brown stripes. While further research can determine which functional traits are critical for these plants, knowledge of the current distribution of plant species and their functional traits can be used in predictive models of the responses of alpine plants to disappearing snowfields and glaciers. This research is important in conservation of rare arctic-alpine species on periglacial patterned ground.
2 (methanogenesis). In aquifers contaminated by anthropogenic contaminants, an excess of available organic carbon often exists,
and microbial metabolism is limited by the availability of electron acceptors. In addition to changes in groundwater chemistry,
the solid matrix of the aquifer is affected by microbial processes. The production of carbon dioxide and organic acids can
lead to increased mineral solubility, which can lead to the development of secondary porosity and permeability. Conversely,
microbial production of carbonate, ferrous iron, and sulfide can result in the precipitation of secondary calcite or pyrite
cements that reduce primary porosity and permeability in groundwater systems.
Received, January 1999/Revised, July 1999, August 1999/Accepted, October 1999 相似文献
Gravel occurred in. the stomachs of 17.8% of 924 Galaxias vulgaris and 2.8% of 430 Philypnodon breviceps taken from the Glentui River, Canterbury, between June 1970 and November 1971. It is suggested that differences in feeding habits and feeding locality are responsible for the difference in occurrence of gravel in the stomachs of the two fish species. Galaxias vulgaris feeds in the water column in riffles and, being a drift feeder, is more likely to ingest inedible material by accident than is P. breviceps, which feeds on the bottom in sheltered or quiet stretches of the river. 相似文献
Interpreting the physical dynamics of ancient environments requires an understanding of how current‐generated sedimentary structures, such as ripples and dunes, are created. Traditional interpretations of these structures are based on experimental flume studies of unconsolidated quartz sand, in which stepwise increases in flow velocity yield a suite of sedimentary structures analogous to those found in the rock record. Yet cyanobacteria, which were excluded from these studies, are pervasive in wet sandy environments and secrete sufficient extracellular polysaccharides to inhibit grain movement and markedly change the conditions under which sedimentary structures form. Here, the results of flume experiments using cyanobacteria‐inoculated quartz sand are reported which demonstrate that microbes strongly influence the behaviour of unconsolidated sand. In medium sand, thin (ca 0·1 to 0·5 mm thick) microbial communities growing at the sediment–water interface can nearly double the flow velocity required to produce the traditional sequence of ripple→dune→plane‐bed lamination bedforms. In some cases, these thin film‐like microbial communities can inhibit the growth of ripples or dunes entirely, and instead bed shear stresses result in flip‐over and rip‐up structures. Thicker (ca≥1 mm thick) microbial mats mediate terracing of erosional edges; they also, foster transport of multi‐grain aggregates and yield a bedform progression consisting of flip‐overs→roll‐ups→rip‐ups of bound sand. 相似文献
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