Soils in the Chamberlindalen area (Bellsund, Spitsbergen ) have been formed under polar climatic conditions, influenced by many years of permafrost, and chemical and physical weathering. The type of bedrock and local water conditions are considered to be significant soil-forming factors. The following soil units were distinguished according to the FAO-UNESCO Revised Legend (1997): Gelic Leptosols, Gelic Regosols, Gelic Gleysols, and Gelic Cambisols. The basic properties of the soils studied are (i) shallow soil profile with poorly differentiated genetic horizons, (ii) the particle size distribution of sands and loams, (iii) a considerable content of the silt fraction, (iv) different pH, and a considerable organic carbon content.
The dynamics of some features of arctic soils and their connection with air-water relations are presented. Investigations of 5 selected profiles were carried out in 1987. Considerable dynamics of moisture, redox potential (Eh) and oxygen diffusion rate (ODR) during the summer season were confirmed. Oscillations of these features in individual profiles and sometimes in their horizons were distinguished.
Mountain soils derived from massive rocks were studied in the northwestern Wedel Jarlsberg Land. Main soil properties were examined for collected samples. Soils were classified as lithosols with common loamy and silty composition, and small amount of colloidal fraction. Soils were mostly alkaline due to high content of CaCO3. Much more organic substance occurred at westerly- than easterly-exposed hills and located close to a sea. Examined soils contained much soluble forms of Ca, Mg and occasionally Na, little of P and K. Density of plant cover corresponded to contents of organic substance.
Peat soils (FAO — Gelic Histosols) in the southern Bellsund coast area occur on slopes and terraces. They are formed in places favourable for plant growth, i.e. adequately moistened and fertilized largely with bird excrements. These formations belong to moss peats which are generally decomposed weakly and moderately to about 0.5 m depth. Their content of organic matter is equal to about 30-90%, but it is higher in terrace peats. The latter are more acidified than slope peats. The reaction both of slope and terrace peat soils is as a rule, slightly acid or neutral, and CaC03 content does not exceed 10%. As regards the content of macroelements, that of Al is the highest followed by Ca, Fe, Mg and P. Little K and Ti, and only traces of Na are found. Microelements occur in the following sequence: Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Co, Cd. Particularly Mn, Zn as well as Cu and Cd were found in a higher concentration. Slope peat soils are richer in macro- and microelements than terrace ones, e.g. 4 times in the case of Mg. Peat soils poor in ash parts (up to 25% ash), contain the fewest elements. Some regularities concern also a vertical distribution of the particular profiles but only with regard to terrace peat soils.
Saprotrophic filamentous microfungi were isolated by means of the soil dilution method from soil samples collected from four locations in the Bellsund region of Spitsbergen (77°33’N, 14°31’E) representing the following forms of surface micro-relief: an old stormbank, a sorted circle, a frost fissure between tundra polygons, and the central part of a tundra polygon. The fungal isolates were identified and screened for their ability to grow at low temperatures. The oligotrophy of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic strains was then determined as the ability of growth on silica gel without a C source added. Differences in some physico-chemical properties were found between the soils sampled from the four sites. A total of 89 taxa from 17 genera were isolated. Most of the isolates were species of Mortierella, Penicillium, Chrysosporium and Phialophora, and half of them were psychrophiles. Fungal communities isolated from a frost fissure between tundra polygons (site 3) and from the central part of a tundra polygon (site 4) were dominated by psychrophiles but those isolated from an old stormbank (site 1) and a sorted circle (site 2) were predominantly psychrotrophic. Oligopsychrophilic taxa accounted for 27% and oligopsychrotrophic for 20% of all the isolated taxa but only from 0.7% to 11.7% and from 1.2% to 6.3% of the total number of cfu (colony forming unit) isolated from an individual site, respectively. The results of the present study suggest that the abundance of fungi in Arctic soil is mostly affected by the content of organic matter in the A horizon and the plant cover, but other factors, such as the stage of soil development and the micro-relief of the surface, are more important for species richness of fungal communities.