Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2025
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V35
Höfundar / Authors: Heiðrún Inga Guðmundsdóttir, Jóhann Þórsson and Snæbjörn Pálsson
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Háskóli Íslands, Land og Skógur
Kynnir / Presenter: Heiðrún Inga Guðmundsdóttir
Land degradation negatively impacts biodiversity both below- and aboveground, and has been problematic in Iceland since first human settlements largely due to livestock overgrazing, vulnerable soils and a harsh climate. This thesis aims to explore soil taxonomic composition and biological diversity in an active restoration site at the farm Kot in south of Iceland. A total of 39 soil samples were collected in October 2024 from seven different areas within or around Kot. These areas include one degraded control site, three restoration sites, sown and fertilized with meat meal in different years (2014, 2017 and 2020) and three uneroded control sites. DNA was extracted and sent abroad for metabarcoding of fungi (ITS), bacteria (16S), and larger organisms (18S). Over 11.000 16S OTUs were detected in total, where the dominating phyla in all sites are the common soil bacteria Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria. A PCA of Jaccard and Bray-Curtis OTU matrices indicates greater intrasite variability in bacterial community composition within the youngest restoration site compared to the other two sites. Additionally, a PERMANOVA analysis of those matrices showed significant differences between all sites, except between the degraded control site and the youngest restoration site. Over 4000 18S OTUs were detected in total where the dominating animal phyla were Nematozoa and Arthropoda and the dominating eucaryotic phyla were Cercozoa and Ciliophora.