Table 2 Microbial alpha-diversity and abundance 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

657 ± 40^ac

3.9 ± 0.2^ab

47 ± 12^a

2.9 ± 0.9^a

(1.1 ± 0.7) × 10^8a

(2.5 ± 1.5) × 10^6ab

aL_B

342 ± 25^b

3.0 ± 0.2^b

47 ± 30^a

2.2 ± 0.4^a

(5.2 ± 3.9) × 10^7a

(4.6 ± 2.4) × 10^6a

aL_B_c

849 ± 195^c

4.1 ± 0.7^a

235 ± 73^b

3.2 ± 1.0^a

(3.2 ± 2.1) × 10^7a

(7.8 ± 0.9) × 10^5b

pF

437 ± 50^ab

2.9 ± 0.1^b

79 ± 25^a

2.0 ± 1.1^a

(3.6 ± 2.5) × 10^6a

(2.8 ± 0.3) × 10^5b

VRS

BSC

2265 ± 62^a

6.4 ± 0.1^a

205 ± 19^a

3.23 ± 0.42^a

(3.3 ± 0.9) × 10^7a

(4.9 ± 3.1) × 10^6ab

aL_A

1888 ± 61^b

6.0 ± 0.1^bc

103 ± 17^b

2.42 ± 0.118^b

(2.2 ± 1.2) × 10^7a

(4.6 ± 4.7) × 10^6a

aL_B

1460 ± 32^c

5.8 ± 0.0^c

58 ± 17^bc

2.13 ± 0.13^b

(3.1 ± 0.5) × 10^8a

(6.6 ± 5.7) × 10^5b

aL_B_c

1336 ± 70^c

5.8 ± 0.1^c

51 ± 10^c

2.20 ± 0.23^b

(1.4 ± 0.2) × 10^7a

(8.2 ± 5.8) × 10^5b

pF_

1673 ± 42^d

6.3 ± 0.2^ab

98 ± 21^b

2.66 ± 0.36^ab

(1.1 ± 0.2) × 10^7a

(2.0 ± 1.9) × 10^5ab