Resistance of the Archaeal Community to a Severe Disturbance in an Extreme Alkaline Saline Soil

and pH 10.0-10.3 were chloroform fumigated for one day and the recovery of the archaeal community determined after 1, 5 and 10 days, while an unfumigated soil served as control. Six archaeal phyla dominated by Candidatus Halobacterota (relative abundance 96.9%) were detected, while Natronorubrum dominated in the unfumigated (9.7%) and fumigated extreme alkaline saline soil (8.9%). Fumigation and time had a significant effect on the archaeal community structure. Some archaeal groups, e.g. Halovarius sp., were strongly affected by fumigation most accentuated on day 1 and 5. It was found that chloroform fumigation had only a limited and mostly a short time effect on the archaeal groups which demonstrated their resistance to a severe disturbance in extreme adverse conditions.