Highly diverse aquatic microbial communities separated by permafrost in Greenland show distinct features according to environmental niches

The microbial diversity of aquatic habitats above and below the permafrost layer in the Kangerlussuaq Area, Western Greenland, was studied by amplicon sequencing of the bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes and fungal ITS1 region. The aquatic habitats included pond and lake water, glacier ice and melt water, permafrost active layer melt water and deep groundwater.