The ‘cyanobiome’ of Svalbard, High Arctic

Over the last decades, the Arctic has experienced a warming trend that is nearly twice as high as the global average, a phenomenon known as ‘Arctic amplification’. The impact of warmer temperatures on Arctic ecosystems is still unclear. Cyanobacteria are the key primary producers in freshwater and terrestrial Arctic ecosystems, where they are the driver for numerous ecological functions. For a better understanding of the impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems, baseline knowledge on cyanobacterial diversity and distribution is crucial. Here we investigate, for the first time, the biogeographic patterns of cyanobacterial communities across Svalbard, using 454 pyrosequencing of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences. Samples were taken from distinct ecosystems and biogeographic zones. We also compare the studied communities with similar Antarctic communities.