DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj04
title: Patterns and drivers of prokaryotic communities in thermokarst lake water across Northern Hemisphere

description: Aim: The formation of thermokarst lakes could make a large amount of
 carbon accessible to microbial degradation, potentially intensifying the
 permafrost carbon-climate feedback via carbon dioxide/methane emissions.
 Because of their diverse functional roles, prokaryotes play a key role in
 mediating biogeochemical cycles in thermokarst lakes. However, little is
 known about the large-scale patterns and drivers of these communities.
 Location: Permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere. Time Period:
 Present day. Major taxa studied: Prokaryotes. Methods: Based on a
 combination of large-scale measurements on the Tibetan Plateau and data
 syntheses in pan-Arctic regions, we constructed a comprehensive dataset of
 16S rRNA sequences from 258 thermokarst lakes across Northern Hemisphere
 permafrost regions. We also used the local contributions to beta diversity
 (LCBD) to characterize the variance of prokaryotic species composition and
 screened underlying drivers by conducting a random forest modeling
 analysis. Results: Prokaryotes in thermokarst lake water were dominated by
 the orders Burkholderiales, Micrococcales, Flavobacteriales, and
 Frankiales. The relative abundance of dominant taxa was positively
 associated with dissolved organic matter (DOM) properties, especially for
 the chromophoric/aromatic compounds. Microbial structure differed between
 high-altitude and high-latitude thermokarst lakes, with the dominance of
 Flavobacterium in high-altitude lakes, and the enrichment of
 Polynucleobacter in high-latitude lakes. More importantly, climatic
 variables were among the main drivers shaping the large-scale variation of
 prokaryotic communities. Specifically, mean annual precipitation was the
 best predictor for prokaryotic beta diversity across the Northern
 Hemisphere, as well as in the high-altitude permafrost regions, while mean
 annual air temperature played a key role in the high-latitude thermokarst
 lakes. Main conclusions: Our findings demonstrate significant associations
 between dominant taxa and DOM properties, as well as the important role of
 climatic factors in affecting prokaryotic communities. These findings
 suggest that climatic change may alter DOM conditions and induce dynamics
 in prokaryotic communities of thermokarst lake water in the Northern
 Hemisphere.
description: # Patterns and drivers of prokaryotic communities in thermokarst lake
 water across Northern Hemisphere This project repository is associated
 with the following manuscripts: * Luyao Kang, Leiyi Chen, Ziliang Li,
 Jianjun Wang, Kai Xue, Ye Deng, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Yutong Song,
 Dianye Zhang, Guibiao Yang, Wei Zhou, Xuning Liu, Futing Liu and Yuanhe
 Yang\* (2023). Patterns and drivers of prokaryotic communities in
 thermokarst lake water across Northern Hemisphere.
 ([http://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13764](http://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13764) ) R
 codes for statistical analyses and all relevant data necessary for
 reproducing results are available at
 https://github.com/kangluyao/Prokaryotes-in-thermokarst-lakes.
 Environmental variables in *sample\_data.txt* include geographic location
 depth (cm), MAAT (℃), MAP (mm), DOC (mg/L), SUVA254 (L mg
 C<sup>-1</sup> m<sup>-1</sup>), a320
 (m<sup>-1</sup>), and pH. ## Structure ``` ├──
 doi_10.5061_dryad.ngf1vhj04__v5 ├── meta_otu_table.txt -- otu table file
 ├── taxonomy.txt -- taxonomimc table file └── sample_data.txt --
 environmental table file ```