Alpine Microbial Community Responses to Summer Warming

Remote alpine ecosystems of the western US are vulnerable to anthropogenic drivers of change. Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and a changing climate introduce nutrients, alter hydrological processes, and expose soils to novel temperature regimes. We asked whether terrestrial microbes, specifically nitrifiers that may contribute to already high lake and stream NO3- concentrations, may be responding to changes in important controls of community development and activity associated with a changing climate, namely temperature and moisture. In August 2010 we sampled three soils from the Loch Vale Watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park which fell along a gradient of succession commonly represented in deglaciated alpine catchments. These included well-developed meadow soils, poorly vegetated talus substrate, and newly-exposed glacial outwash. Outwash, talus, and meadow samples were all N-rich and contained NH4-N concentrations ~7 times higher than NO3-N. Soils were incubated for 45 days at 2.5, 10, and 25oC and three moisture levels based on initial field conditions. Nitrifier concentrations were greatest in outwash, intermediate in talus, and lowest in meadow samples. Bacterial nitrifier abundance greatly surpassed archaeal nitrifier levels. Net nitrification was also greatest in outwash, followed by meadow and talus respectively. Moisture, rather than temperature, was a dominant control over both nitrifier abundance and activity. Linking the influence of temperature and moisture on alpine microbial communities will provide insight into control thresholds, optima, and synergistic interactions. This research is part of a larger study of controls on headwater stream and lake NO3-. Characterizing microbial NO3- production in the alpine will help us evaluate the importance of biological, as opposed to physical, sources of stream NO3-. It will also inform our ability to forecast and mitigate consequences of anthropogenic drivers of change on these systems.