Functional diversity of the soil microflora in primary succession across two glacier forelands in the Central Alps

We compared functional diversity in 6- to 150-year-old sites on two primary successional glacier forelands (Odenwinkelkees and Rotmoosferner, Austria) and related these changes to properties of their habitat in the soil (pH, soil organic matter, mineral nitrogen, phosphorus). Comparisons were made with land undisturbed for 9500 years immediately outside the glacier foreland. The functional diversity of the soil microflora was assessed based on microbial processes (N mineralization, ammonium oxidation, arginine deaminase) as well as on the activities of soil enzymes (protease, urease, xylanase, phosphatase, arylsulphatase). On both chronosequences, functional diversity (Shannon diversity index and evenness) and enzyme activity increased up to an age of 50 years, while older soils appeared to have reached a temporary steady state. The values of microbial biomass and enzyme activity were generally smaller in the Odenwinkel soils than in the Rotmoos sequence, indicating that primary input of carbon from plant growth was less. Functional diversity increased with increasing plant development and organic matter accumulation, explaining similarities in enzyme activity patterns in the sequences. The local climates might also have contributed to the magnitude of the changes. Our data suggest that microbial functional diversity reached stability within 50 years' succession.