Composition of the Microorganism Community Found in the Soil Cover on the Dried Seabed of the Aral Sea

Galina  Stulina; Nadejda  Verkhovtseva; Maria  Gorbacheva

doi:10.4236/gep.2019.78001

Galina Stulina¹, Nadejda Verkhovtseva², Maria Gorbacheva²

Abstract:

As a result of the Aral Sea shrinkage, the unique freshwater body has given place to a huge bitter-saline lake with an area 3.5 times less, volume 6 times less and water salinity 10 times larger than in 1960, and the saline desert at the interface between three sand deserts with an area of more than 5 million ha, being unstable ecological zone. The exposed ground is illustrative of arid salt-accumulation, where was created specific type of soil-costal solonchak. The origination of life in the soil of the dried bed starts long before the occurrence of external characteristics. This process can be traced only by studying the microbiological composition of soil. Research in this direction, was conducted in order to determine the microbiological composition of soil for horizons of one typical profile of solonchak. The research objective was to determine microorganism species in the soil on the dried seabed, identify changes in the microorganism community along the soil profile and dependence on duration of the drying process. Additionally, we paid attention to a vegetation effect on the composition of microorganisms. Soil samples were taken along a transect from the sea to the mainland, selected from the different depth of soil profiles taken under or near plant (saxaul). The method Gas chromatography mass-spectrometry was used. Bacteria of the community of microorganisms in different parts of the soil cover on the dried seabed of the Aral Sea and on the mainland belong to five bacterial phyla: Proteobacteria Actinobacteria Firmicutes Bacteroidetes and Deinococcus-Thermus. In general, 59 bacterial species of 43 genera were reconstructed. The total population varied from 10⁵ cells/g to 10⁸ cells/g of the soil. The association Aeromonas hydrophila-Arthrobacter sp. played the key role at the first stages of the soil formation process on the dried seabed of the Aral Sea. This association is followed by salt-resistant Agrobacterium sp. and humus-accumulating Propionibacterium freudenreichii, activity of which is also very important for the formation of the soil cover. The studying properties of the dried seabed cover of both salt composition and microbiological composition made it possible to trace the formation of primary soil on marine sediments with the subsequent formation of desert-type soil.

Keywords: Microorganism Community, Diversity of Microorganisms, Dried Seabed, Soil formation, Aral Sea

Cite this paper: Stulina, G. , Verkhovtseva, N. and Gorbacheva, M. (2019) Composition of the Microorganism Community Found in the Soil Cover on the Dried Seabed of the Aral Sea. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 7, 1-23. doi: 10.4236/gep.2019.78001.

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