Snowpack shifts cyanobacterial community in biological soil crusts

Winter snowpack is an important source of moisture that influences the development ofbiological soil crusts(BSCs)in desert ecosystems.Cyanobacteria are important photosynthetic organismsin BSCs.However,the responses of the cyanobacterial community in BSCs to snowpack,snow depth andmelting snow are still unknown.In this study,we investigated the cyanobacterial community compositionand diversity in BSCs under different snow treatments(doubled snow,ambient snow and removed snow)and three snow stages(stage 1,snowpack;stage 2,melting snow;and stage 3,melted snow)in theGurbantunggut Desert in China.In stages 1 and 2,Cyanobacteria were the dominant phylum in the bacterialcommunity in the removed snow treatment,whereas Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were abundant inthe bacterial communities in the ambient snow and doubled snow treatments.The relative abundances ofProteobacteria and Bacteroidetes increased with increasing snow depth.The relative abundances ofCyanobacteria and other bacterial taxa were affected mainly by soil temperature and irradiance.In stages 2and 3,the relative abundance of Cyanobacteria increased quickly due to the suitable soil moisture andirradiance conditions.Oscillatoriales,Chroococcales,Nostocales,Synechococcales and unclassifiedCyanobacteria were detected in all the snow treatments,and the most dominant taxa were Oscillatorialesand Chroococcales.Various cyanobacterial taxa showed different responses to snowpack.Soil moisture andirradiance were the two critical factors shaping the cyanobacterial community structure.The snowpackdepth and duration altered the soil surface irradiance,soil moisture and other soil properties,whichconsequently were selected for different cyanobacterial communities.Thus,local microenvironmentalfiltering(niche selection)caused by snow conditions may be a dominant process driving shifts in thecyanobacterial community in BSCs.