Fujun Niu

Hymenobacter psychrotolerans sp. nov., isolated from the Qinghai--Tibet Plateau permafrost region

A psychrotolerant bacterium, designated strain Tibet-IIU11T, was isolated from the Qinghai--Tibet Plateau permafrost region, China. A taxonomic study was conducted using a polyphasic approach, with determination of physiological and biochemical properties and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The novel isolate was found to belong to the genus Hymenobacter and was distinct from the recognized species of this genus. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (24.5 %), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1omega7c and/or iso C15 : 0 2-OH; 20.0 %), summed feature 4 (iso-C17 : 1 I and/or anteiso-C17 : 1 B; 14.0 %), C16 : 1omega5c (12.7 %) and anteiso-C15 : 0 (8.4 %). Phosphatidylethanolamine and an unknown aminophospholipid were predominant in the polar lipid profile. The quinone system consisted exclusively of menaquinone MK-7 and sym-homospermidine was the major polyamine present. These chemotaxonomic traits are in good agreement with the characteristics of the genus Hymenobacter. The assignment of the novel isolate to this genus was further supported by a DNA G+C content of 60 mol%. On the basis of the polyphasic evidence presented in this study, it is proposed that strain Tibet-IIU11T (=DSM 18569T=CGMCC 1.6365T) represents a novel species, Hymenobacter psychrotolerans sp. nov.

Technical approaches on permafrost thermal stability for Qinghai–Tibet Railway

Widespread warm permafrost with a high ice content is a key problem for the roadbed stability of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway. A new approach is proposed to alleviate the effect of global warming and engineering construction on permafrost by cooling the roadbed and positively protecting the permafrost. Measures for cooling the roadbed by adjusting solar radiation, conduction, and convection are studied and applied to prevent ground ice from thawing and to ensure roadbed stability in permafrost regions. The results of monitoring permafrost embankments at Beiluhe and along the Qinghai–Tibet Railway show that the measures adopted for cooling the roadbed are very effective in raising permafrost table and reducing the soil temperature.

The thermal stability of roadbed in permafrost regions along Qinghai–Tibet Highway

Abstract For thoroughly understanding the roadbed failure at permafrost section of Qinghai–Tibet Highway (QTH), the radiation and thermal balance on the surface of asphalt layer of roadbed and nearby natural ground in two different types of permafrost sections were observed in two study sites located at Kunlun Mountains Pass and No. 66 Road Maintenance Station. The thermal balance on the two different surface and annual thermal rotation of the roadbed were calculated based on the data observed. It was concluded that the changes of thermal regime were the basic causes responsible for the roadbed subsidence and the formation of thawed zone. The formation and evolution processes of thawed zone in roadbed and their stability were discussed. At the end of the paper, the would-be maximum depth of the artificial permafrost table and its evaluation time as well as the final stable thickness of thawed zone below the roadbed were calculated. Based on the work, feasible measures to rehabilitate the QTH were put forward.

Thermal–moisture dynamics of embankments with asphalt pavement in permafrost regions of central Tibetan Plateau

Subsurface moisture content is one of the critical factors that control the thermal dynamics of embankments. However, information on the subsurface moisture movement and distribution in embankments is still limited. To better understand the coupled water and heat transport within embankments, subsurface temperature and moisture of an asphalt pavement highway were extensively measured from 2009 to 2011. Collected data indicate that pure heat conduction is the overall main mechanism of heat transport in the embankment and heat convection plays a relatively unimportant role in heat transport. The results also indicate that subsurface moisture and temperature dynamics in the asphalt layer is strongly related to the rainfall events, while the subsurface moisture content below the road base course maintains relatively constant. Rainfall in summer leads to rapid cooling of the subsurface soil. Our results suggest that frequent and small rainfall events favour the thermal stability of the embankment due to the loss of latent heat of water evaporation. Moisture migration during freezing still occurred in the gravel fill and the water infiltrated into the active layer during thawing period. Freezing-induced water migration may result in the increase in water content of the embankment and the decrease in compactness of gravel fill.

Relative Roles of Deterministic and Stochastic Processes in Driving the Vertical Distribution of Bacterial Communities in a Permafrost Core from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Understanding the processes that influence the structure of biotic communities is one of the major ecological topics, and both stochastic and deterministic processes are expected to be at work simultaneously in most communities. Here, we investigated the vertical distribution patterns of bacterial communities in a 10-m-long soil core taken within permafrost of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. To get a better understanding of the forces that govern these patterns, we examined the diversity and structure of bacterial communities, and the change in community composition along the vertical distance (spatial turnover) from both taxonomic and phylogenetic perspectives. Measures of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity revealed that bacterial community composition changed continuously along the soil core, and showed a vertical distance-decay relationship. Multiple stepwise regression analysis suggested that bacterial alpha diversity and phylogenetic structure were strongly correlated with soil conductivity and pH but weakly correlated with depth. There was evidence that deterministic and stochastic processes collectively drived bacterial vertically-structured pattern. Bacterial communities in five soil horizons (two originated from the active layer and three from permafrost) of the permafrost core were phylogenetically random, indicator of stochastic processes. However, we found a stronger effect of deterministic processes related to soil pH, conductivity, and organic carbon content that were structuring the bacterial communities. We therefore conclude that the vertical distribution of bacterial communities was governed primarily by deterministic ecological selection, although stochastic processes were also at work. Furthermore, the strong impact of environmental conditions (for example, soil physicochemical parameters and seasonal freeze-thaw cycles) on these communities underlines the sensitivity of permafrost microorganisms to climate change and potentially subsequent permafrost thaw.

Diversity and community structure of fungi through a permafrost core profile from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China

While a vast number of studies have addressed the prokaryotic diversity in permafrost, characterized by subzero temperatures, low water activity, and extremely low rates of nutrient and metabolite transfer, fungal patterns have received surprisingly limited attention. Here, the fungal diversity and community structure were investigated by culture‐dependent technique combined with cloning‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of sediments in a 10‐m‐long permafrost core from the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau of China. A total of 62 fungal phylotypes related to 10 distinct classes representing three phyla were recovered from 5031 clones generated in 13 environmental gene libraries. A large proportion of the phylotypes (25/62) that were distantly related to described fungal species appeared to be novel diversity. Ascomycota was the predominant group of fungi, with respect to both clone and phylotype number. Our results suggested there was the existence of cosmopolitan psychrophilic or psychrotolerant fungi in permafrost sediments, the community composition of fungi varied with increasing depth, while these communities largely distributed according to core layers.

The role of rainfall in the thermal-moisture dynamics of the active layer at Beiluhe of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

The active layer in permafrost regions plays an important role in energy exchange between permafrost and atmosphere. Rainfall is one of the dominant factors affecting thermal-moisture dynamics of the active layer. To better understand the thermal-moisture dynamics and the interaction between rainfall and the active layer in-detail, in situ experiment was carried out and soil temperature, soil moisture and soil heat flux of the active layer were measured from 2007 to 2009. The observation data demonstrated that the volumetric soil water content of the active layer remained fairly constant during the winter and had a notable fluctuation resulted from evapotranspiration and rewetting from rainfall events in summer. The daily variation amplitude of soil temperature and soil heat flux in summer was bigger than that in winter. Soil moisture content increased and soil temperature decreased after rainfall. Rainfall in summer led to the change of surface energy balance and caused subsurface soil cooling. The convective heat transfer from water infiltration reduced the temperature gradient along depth and changed near-surface heat fluxes. The increase in rainfall may mitigate permafrost degradation on the Tibetan Plateau.

Effects of local factors and climate on permafrost conditions and distribution in Beiluhe basin, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Beiluhe basin is underlain by warm and ice-rich permafrost, and covered by vegetation and soils characteristic of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A field monitoring network was established to investigate permafrost conditions and to assess potential impacts of local factors and climate change. This paper describes the spatial variations in permafrost conditions from instrumented boreholes, controlling environmental factors, and recent thermal evolution of permafrost in the basin. The study area was divided into 10 ecotypes using satellite imagery based classification. The field investigations and cluster analysis of ground temperatures indicated that permafrost underlies most of the ground in swamp meadow, undisturbed alpine meadow, degrading alpine meadow, and desert alpine grassland, but is absent in other cover types. Permafrost-ecotope relations examined over a 2-year (2014-2016) period indicated that: (i) ground surface temperatures varied largely among ecotopes; (ii) annual mean ground temperatures ranged from -1.5 to 0°C in permafrost, indicating sensitive permafrost conditions; (iii) active-layer thicknesses ranged from 1.4m to 3.4m; (iv) ground ice content at the top of permafrost is high, but the active-layer soil is relatively dry. Long-term climate warming has driven thermal changes to permafrost, but ground surface characteristics and soil moisture content strongly influence the ground thermal state. These factors control local-scale spatial variations in permafrost conditions. The warm permafrost in the basin is commonly in thermal disequilibrium, and is sensitive to future climate change. Active-layer thicknesses have increased by at least 42cm and the mean annual ground temperatures have increased by up to 0.2°C in the past 10years over the basin. A permafrost distribution map was produced based on ecotypes, suggesting that permafrost underlies 64% of the study region.

Long-term thermal regimes of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway embankments in plateau permafrost regions

Ten years of ground temperature data (2003–2013) indicate that the long-term thermal regimes within embankments of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) vary significantly with different embankment structures. Obvious asymmetries exist in the ground temperature fields within the traditional embankment (TE) and the crushed-rock basement embankment (CRBE). Measurements indicate that the TE and CRBE are not conducive to maintaining thermal stability. In contrast, the ground temperature fields of both the crushed-rock sloped embankment (CRSE) and the U-shaped crushed-rock embankment (UCRE) were symmetrical. However, the UCRE gave better thermal stability than the CRSE because slow warming of deep permafrost was observed under the CRSE. Therefore, the UCRE has the best long-term effect of decreasing ground temperature and improving the symmetry of the temperature field. More generally, it is concluded that construction using the cooling-roadbed principle meets the design requirements for long-term stability of the railway and for train transport speeds of 100 km h−1. However, temperature differences between the two shoulders, which exist in all embankments shoulders, may cause potential uneven settlement and might require maintenance.

Morphological Characteristics of Thermokarst Lakes along the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor

Abstract In order to determine the distribution and morphometric characteristics of thermokarst lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, SPOT-5 satellite images were acquired from the Chumaerhe High Plateau to Beiluhe Basin within a 10-km-wide corridor along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. A total of 2163 water bodies, having a total area of 1.09 × 107 m2, were identified in the study area using unsupervised classification and image interpretation. Several shape metrics (area, perimeter, circularity index, elongation index, orientation of major axis, and curvature of lake shoreline) were determined for lakes from the imagery, and bathymetric profiles of lake bottoms were derived using ground-penetrating radar. The results highlighted significant morphometric differences between lakes larger than 5000 m2 among three subregions: the Chumaerhe High Plain (CHP), the Hoh Xil Hill region (HXR), and the Beluhe Basin region (BBR). The lakes in CHP usually have a more regular outline and smooth lake bottoms, while the lakes in HXR often have the greatest depths and the most complex shorelines. The most elongated and largest lakes were typically in BBR. Other than a minor NE-SE peak in HXR and BBR, the major axis orientation for lakes in the three subregions is mostly ENE-WSW. The differences in lake morphology between the three subregions are associated with differences in ground-ice content, local relief, and topography. The dominant factors controlling the development of orientated thermokarst lakes in the region are the prevailing summer wind direction and solar insolation.