Table 1 Soil physico-chemical parameters of alpine (Val Lavirun, LAV) and High Arctic soils (Villum, VRS). Values represent means ± standard deviation (n = 3). Different superscript letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) differences between individual means, assessed by two-way factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s HSD post-hoc tests

LAV

aL_A

5.6 ± 0.5^a

4.6 ± 0.1^a

1.3 ± 0.1^a

0.10 ± 0.00^a

17.0 ± 2.2^a

1.0 ± 0.1^a

13.7 ± 1.3^ab

2227 ± 424^a

aL_B

1.9 ± 0.3^b

4.6 ± 0.2^a

1.0 ± 0.1^b

0.08 ± 0.01^b

15.4 ± 0.5^a

0.9 ± 0.1^ab

14.6 ± 1.5^a

5379 ± 920^b

aL_B_c

0.3 ± 0.2^c

4.5 ± 0.0^ab

0.3 ± 0.1^c

0.04 ± 0.00^c

11.5 ± 1.5^b

0.7 ± 0.1^ab

11.6 ± 1.6^ab

7902 ± 792^c

pF

-0.3 ± 0.1^d

4.3 ± 0.0^b

0.2 ± 0.0^c

0.03 ± 0.00^c

8.1 ± 0.8^b

0.6 ± 0.1^b

10.1 ± 1.4^b

12,529 ± 665^d

VRS

BSC

9.0 ± 1.1^a

6.9 ± 0.4^a

2.1 ± 0.6^a

0.25 ± 0.04^a

20.8 ± 5.8^a

1.8 ± 0.3^a

8.4 ± 0.4^a

3412 ± 3296^a

aL_A

6.6 ± 1.9^a

7.0 ± 0.3^a

1.5 ± 0.2^ab

0.17 ± 0.01^b

11.4 ± 0.6^b

1.0 ± 0.3^b

8.3 ± 0.7^a

8401 ± 3043^ab

aL_B

3.4 ± 0.8^b

7.0 ± 0.3^a

1.1 ± 0.1^bc

0.13 ± 0.00^bc

9.8 ± 1.1^b

0.3 ± 0.0^c

13.5 ± 0.8^b

12,456 ± 5245^ab

aL_B_c

0.9 ± 0.5^bc

7.2 ± 0.2^a

0.7 ± 0.1^c

0.11 ± 0.01^c

10.1 ± 0.1^b

0.3 ± 0.0^c

13.9 ± 1.0^b

16,209 ± 3848^bc

pF

-0.1 ± 0.0^c

7.4 ± 0.0^a

1.2 ± 0.1^b

0.11 ± 0.00^c

8.2 ± 1.2^b

0.5 ± 0.1^bc

18.5 ± 1.5^c

25,038 ± 4652^c