Cyanobacterial diversity in soil crusts has been extensively studied in arid lands of temperate regions, particularly semi-arid steppes and warm deserts. Nevertheless, Arctic soil crusts have received far less attention than their temperate counterparts. Here, we describe the cyanobacterial communities from various types of soil crusts from Svalbard, High Arctic. Four soil crusts at different development stages (ranging from poorly-developed to well-developed soil crusts) were analysed using 454 pyrosequencing of the V3-V4 variable region of the cyanobacterial 16S rRNA gene. Analyses of 95 660 cyanobacterial sequences revealed a dominance of OTUs belonging to the orders Synechococcales, Oscillatoriales and Nostocales. The most dominant OTUs in the four studied sites were related to the filamentous cyanobacteria Leptolyngbya sp. Phylotype richness estimates increased from poorly- to mid-developed soil crusts and decreased in the well-developed lichenized soil crust. Moreover, pH, ammonium and organic carbon concentrations appeared significantly correlated with the cyanobacterial community structure.

• Keywords
• 16S rRNA gene, 454 pyrosequencing, Arctic, cyanobacteria, soil chemistry, soil crust,
• MeSH
• DNA, Bacterial analysis   MeSH
• Lichens genetics   MeSH
• Microbial Consortia * MeSH
• Soil chemistry   MeSH
• Soil Microbiology * MeSH
• RNA, Ribosomal, 16S genetics   MeSH
• Base Sequence MeSH
• Sequence Analysis, DNA MeSH
• Cyanobacteria classification   genetics   MeSH
• Cold Climate MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Arctic Regions MeSH
• Svalbard MeSH
• Names of Substances
• DNA, Bacterial MeSH
• Soil MeSH
• RNA, Ribosomal, 16S MeSH