The pedogenesis from the mineral substrate released upon glacier melting has been explained with the succession of consortia of pioneer microorganisms, whose structure and functionality are determined by the environmental conditions developing in the moraine. However, the microbiome variability that can be expected in the environmentally heterogeneous niches occurring in a moraine at a given successional stage is poorly investigated. In a 50\uffe2\uff80\uff89m2 area in the forefield of the Lobuche glacier (Himalayas, 5050\uffe2\uff80\uff89m above sea level), we studied six sites of primary colonization presenting different topographical features (orientation, elevation and slope) and harbouring greyish/dark biological soil crusts (BSCs). The spatial vicinity of the sites opposed to their topographical differences, allowed us to examine the effect of environmental conditions independently from the time of deglaciation. The bacterial microbiome diversity and their co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurrence network, the bacterial metabolisms predicted from 16S rRNA gene high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput sequencing, and the microbiome intact polar lipids were investigated in the BSCs and the underlying sediment deep layers (DLs). Different bacterial microbiomes inhabited the BSCs and the DLs, and their composition varied among sites, indicating a niche\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific role of the micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90environmental conditions in the bacterial communities' assembly. In the heterogeneous sediments of glacier moraines, physico\uffe2\uff80\uff90chemical and micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90climatic variations at the site\uffe2\uff80\uff90spatial scale are crucial in shaping the microbiome microvariability and structuring the pioneer bacterial communities during pedogenesis.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "Pedogenesis", "0303 health sciences", "Glacier Foreland Succession", "Bacteria", "Biological soil crust", "15. Life on land", "Primary Colonization", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "RNA", " Ribosomal", " 16S", "Glacier Moraines", "Cold Deserts", "Pioneer Bacterial Communities", "Ice Cover", "Soil moisture", "Research Articles", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/949070/2/Rolli%20et%20al%202022%20Environmental%20micro%e2%80%90niche%20filtering%20shapes%20bacterial%20pioneer%20communities.pdf"}, {"href": "https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=302678/40A25368-9064-4886-B8E6-E7942511FA71.pdf&pub_id=302678"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16268"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Microbiology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1462-2920.16268", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1462-2920.16268", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1462-2920.16268"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-11-18T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:14:40Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-09-07", "title": "Societal importance of Antarctic negative feedbacks on climate change: blue carbon gains from sea ice, ice shelf and glacier losses", "description": "AbstractDiminishing prospects for environmental preservation under climate change are intensifying efforts to boost capture, storage and sequestration (long-term burial) of carbon. However, as Earth\uffe2\uff80\uff99s biological carbon sinks also shrink, remediation has become a key part of the narrative for terrestrial ecosystems. In contrast, blue carbon on polar continental shelves have stronger pathways to sequestration and have increased with climate-forced marine ice losses\uffe2\uff80\uff94becoming the largest known natural negative feedback on climate change. Here we explore the size and complex dynamics of blue carbon gains with spatiotemporal changes in sea ice (60\uffe2\uff80\uff93100 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921), ice shelves (4\uffe2\uff80\uff9340 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89=\uffe2\uff80\uff89giant iceberg generation) and glacier retreat (<\uffe2\uff80\uff891 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921). Estimates suggest that, amongst these, reduced duration of seasonal sea ice is most important. Decreasing sea ice extent drives longer (not necessarily larger biomass) smaller cell-sized phytoplankton blooms, increasing growth of many primary consumers and benthic carbon storage\uffe2\uff80\uff94where sequestration chances are maximal. However, sea ice losses also create positive feedbacks in shallow waters through increased iceberg movement and scouring of benthos. Unlike loss of sea ice, which enhances existing sinks, ice shelf losses generate brand new carbon sinks both where giant icebergs were, and in their wake. These also generate small positive feedbacks from scouring, minimised by repeat scouring at biodiversity hotspots. Blue carbon change from glacier retreat has been least well quantified, and although emerging fjords are small areas, they have high storage-sequestration conversion efficiencies, whilst blue carbon in polar waters faces many diverse and complex stressors. The identity of these are known (e.g. fishing, warming, ocean acidification, non-indigenous species and plastic pollution) but not their magnitude of impact. In order to mediate multiple stressors, research should focus on wider verification of blue carbon gains, projecting future change, and the broader environmental and economic benefits to safeguard blue carbon ecosystems through law.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "0303 health sciences", "Blue carbon", "Ecologie", "Climate Change", "Sea ice", "Nature-based solutions", "Antarctic Regions", "Review", "Evolution des esp\u00e8ces", "Hydrogen-Ion Concentration", "15. Life on land", "7. Clean energy", "Carbon", "Feedback", "03 medical and health sciences", "13. Climate action", "Blue carbon \u00b7 Ecosystem services \u00b7 Sea ice \u00b7 Nature-based solutions \u00b7 Southern Ocean", "Ecosystem services", "Ice Cover", "Seawater", "14. Life underwater", "Southern Ocean", "Ecosystem"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8.pdf"}, {"href": "https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/332392/3/Barnes2021_Article_SocietalImportanceOfAntarcticN.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/The%20Science%20of%20Nature", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s00114-021-01748-8"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-09-07T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:14:50Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-08-08", "title": "Nitrogen Dynamics In Arctic Tundra Soils Of Varying Age: Differential Responses To Fertilization And Warming", "description": "In the foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska, different glaciation histories have created landscapes with varying soil age. Productivity of most of these landscapes is generally N limited, but varies widely, as do plant species composition and soil properties (e.g., pH). We hypothesized that the projected changes in productivity and vegetation composition under a warmer climate might be mediated through differential changes in N availability across soil age. We compared readily available [water-soluble NH4 (+), NO3 (-), and amino acids (AA)], moderately available (soluble proteins), hydrolyzable, and total N pools across three tussock-tundra landscapes with soil ages ranging from 11.5k to 300k years. The effects of fertilization and warming on these N pools were also compared for the two younger sites. Readily available N was highest at the oldest site, and AA accounted for 80-89 % of this N. At the youngest site, inorganic N constituted the majority (80-97 %) of total readily available N. This variation reflected the large differences in plant functional group composition and soil chemical properties. Long-term (8-16 years) fertilization increased the soluble inorganic N by 20- to 100-fold at the intermediate-age site, but only by twofold to threefold at the youngest site. Warming caused small and inconsistent changes in the soil C:N ratio and AA, but only in soils beneath Eriophorum vaginatum, the dominant tussock-forming sedge. These differential responses suggest that the ecological consequences of warmer climates on these tundra ecosystems are more complex than simply elevated N-mineralization rates, and that the responses of landscapes might be impacted by soil age, or time since deglaciation.", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "Arctic Regions", "Nitrogen", "Climate Change", "Nitrogen Cycle", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "Soil", "13. Climate action", "Ice Cover", "Biomass", "Cyperaceae", "Fertilizers", "Alaska", "Ecosystem"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Oecologia", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s00442-013-2733-5"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-08-09T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1007/s00442-017-3965-6", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:14:50Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2017-10-05", "title": "Nutrient Limitation Of Soil Microbial Activity During The Earliest Stages Of Ecosystem Development", "description": "A dominant paradigm in ecology is that plants are limited by nitrogen (N) during primary succession. Whether generalizable patterns of nutrient limitation are also applicable to metabolically and phylogenetically diverse soil microbial communities, however, is not well understood. We investigated if measures of N and phosphorus (P) pools inform our understanding of the nutrient(s) most limiting to soil microbial community activities during primary succession. We evaluated soil biogeochemical properties and microbial processes using two complementary methodological approaches-a nutrient addition microcosm experiment and extracellular enzyme assays-to assess microbial nutrient limitation across three actively retreating glacial chronosequences. Microbial respiratory responses in the microcosm experiment provided evidence for N, P and N/P co-limitation at Easton Glacier, Washington, USA, Puca Glacier, Peru, and Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, USA, respectively, and patterns of nutrient limitation generally reflected site-level differences in soil nutrient availability. The activities of three key extracellular enzymes known to vary with soil N and P availability developed in broadly similar ways among sites, increasing with succession and consistently correlating with changes in soil total N pools. Together, our findings demonstrate that during the earliest stages of soil development, microbial nutrient limitation and activity generally reflect soil nutrient supply, a result that is broadly consistent with biogeochemical theory.", "keywords": ["Washington", "2. Zero hunger", "Nitrogen", "Phosphorus", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil", "Food", "Peru", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Ice Cover", "Alaska", "Ecosystem", "Phylogeny", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3965-6"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Oecologia", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s00442-017-3965-6", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s00442-017-3965-6", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s00442-017-3965-6"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2017-10-05T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:17:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-04-21", "title": "High Levels of Microplastics in the Arctic Sea Ice Alga Melosira arctica, a Vector to Ice-Associated and Benthic Food Webs", "description": "Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous with very high quantities detected even in ecosystems as remote as Arctic sea ice and deep-sea sediments. Ice algae growing underneath sea ice are released upon melting and can form fast-sinking aggregates. In this pilot study, we sampled and analyzed the ice algaeMelosira arcticaand ambient sea water from three locations in the Fram Strait to assess their microplastic content and potential as a temporary sink and pathway to the deep seafloor. Analysis by \u03bc-Raman and fluorescence microscopy detected microplastics (\u22652.2 \u03bcm) in all samples at concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 5.7 \u00d7 104 microplastics (MP) m-3 in ice algae and from 1.4 to 4.5 \u00d7 103 MP m-3 in sea water, indicating magnitude higher concentrations in algae. On average, 94% of the total microplastic particles were identified as 10 \u03bcm or smaller in size and comprised 16 polymer types without a clear dominance. The high concentrations of microplastics found in our pilot study suggest thatM. arctica could trap microplastics from melting ice and ambient sea water. The algae appear to be a temporary sink and could act as a key vector to food webs near the sea surface and on the deep seafloor, to which its fast-sinking aggregates could facilitate an important mechanism of transport.", "keywords": ["Food Chain", "13. Climate action", "Arctic Regions", "Microplastics", "Ice Cover", "Pilot Projects", "14. Life underwater", "01 natural sciences", "Plastics", "Ecosystem", "Water Pollutants", " Chemical", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Science%20%26amp%3B%20Technology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "name": "item", "description": "10.1021/acs.est.2c08010", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1021/acs.est.2c08010"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-04-21T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/gcb.15496", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:18:46Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2020-12-20", "title": "Topsoil organic matter build\u2010up in glacier forelands around the world", "description": "AbstractSince the last glacial maximum, soil formation related to ice\uffe2\uff80\uff90cover shrinkage has been one major sink of carbon accumulating as soil organic matter (SOM), a phenomenon accelerated by the ongoing global warming. In recently deglacierized forelands, processes of SOM accumulation, including those that control carbon and nitrogen sequestration rates and biogeochemical stability of newly sequestered carbon, remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the build\uffe2\uff80\uff90up of SOM during the initial stages (up to 410\uffc2\uffa0years) of topsoil development in 10 glacier forelands distributed on four continents. We test whether the net accumulation of SOM on glacier forelands (i) depends on the time since deglacierization and local climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation); (ii) is accompanied by a decrease in its stability and (iii) is mostly due to an increasing contribution of organic matter from plant origin. We measured total SOM concentration (carbon, nitrogen), its relative hydrogen/oxygen enrichment, stable isotopic (13C, 15N) and carbon functional groups (C\uffe2\uff80\uff90H, C=O, C=C) compositions, and its distribution in carbon pools of different thermal stability. We show that SOM content increases with time and is faster on forelands experiencing warmer climates. The build\uffe2\uff80\uff90up of SOM pools shows consistent trends across the studied soil chronosequences. During the first decades of soil development, the low amount of SOM is dominated by a thermally stable carbon pool with a small and highly thermolabile pool. The stability of SOM decreases with soil age at all sites, indicating that SOM storage is dominated by the accumulation of labile SOM during the first centuries of soil development, and suggesting plant carbon inputs to soil (SOM depleted in nitrogen, enriched in hydrogen and in aromatic carbon). Our findings highlight the potential vulnerability of SOM stocks from proglacial areas to decomposition and suggest that their durability largely depends on the relative contribution of carbon inputs from plants.
", "keywords": ["[SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics", "550", "Nitrogen", "Chronosequence", "551", "01 natural sciences", "[SDV.BV.BOT] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics", "Soil", "soil organic matter", "carbon stability; chronosequence; climate sensitivity; soil organic matter; topsoil development; Carbon; Nitrogen; Temperature; Ice Cover; Soil", "[SDV.BID.SPT] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics", " Phylogenetics and taxonomy", "[SDV.EE.ECO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", " environment/Ecosystems", "Ice Cover", "topsoil development", "Carbon stability", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Soil organic matter", "Temperature", "Phylogenetics and taxonomy", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "[SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics", "15. Life on land", "Climate sensitivity", "Primary Research Articles", "Carbon", "chronosequence", "[SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "13. Climate action", "[SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", "[SDE]Environmental Sciences", "Topsoil development", "climate sensitivity", "carbon stability; chronosequence; climate sensitivity; soil organic matter; topsoil development;", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "environment/Ecosystems", "carbon stability"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/851691/2/khedim%202021%20submitted.pdf"}, {"href": "https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/851691/3/khedim%202021%20Global%20Change%20Biol.pdf"}, {"href": "https://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/300214/2/10281-300214_VoR.pdf"}, {"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15496"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15496"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/gcb.15496", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/gcb.15496", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/gcb.15496"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-01-16T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10754/685569", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-25T16:24:54Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-11-03", "title": "Environmental micro\u2010niche filtering shapes bacterial pioneer communities during primary colonization of a Himalayas' glacier forefield", "description": "AbstractThe pedogenesis from the mineral substrate released upon glacier melting has been explained with the succession of consortia of pioneer microorganisms, whose structure and functionality are determined by the environmental conditions developing in the moraine. However, the microbiome variability that can be expected in the environmentally heterogeneous niches occurring in a moraine at a given successional stage is poorly investigated. In a 50\uffe2\uff80\uff89m2 area in the forefield of the Lobuche glacier (Himalayas, 5050\uffe2\uff80\uff89m above sea level), we studied six sites of primary colonization presenting different topographical features (orientation, elevation and slope) and harbouring greyish/dark biological soil crusts (BSCs). The spatial vicinity of the sites opposed to their topographical differences, allowed us to examine the effect of environmental conditions independently from the time of deglaciation. The bacterial microbiome diversity and their co\uffe2\uff80\uff90occurrence network, the bacterial metabolisms predicted from 16S rRNA gene high\uffe2\uff80\uff90throughput sequencing, and the microbiome intact polar lipids were investigated in the BSCs and the underlying sediment deep layers (DLs). Different bacterial microbiomes inhabited the BSCs and the DLs, and their composition varied among sites, indicating a niche\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific role of the micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90environmental conditions in the bacterial communities' assembly. In the heterogeneous sediments of glacier moraines, physico\uffe2\uff80\uff90chemical and micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90climatic variations at the site\uffe2\uff80\uff90spatial scale are crucial in shaping the microbiome microvariability and structuring the pioneer bacterial communities during pedogenesis.Diminishing prospects for environmental preservation under climate change are intensifying efforts to boost capture, storage and sequestration (long-term burial) of carbon. However, as Earth\uffe2\uff80\uff99s biological carbon sinks also shrink, remediation has become a key part of the narrative for terrestrial ecosystems. In contrast, blue carbon on polar continental shelves have stronger pathways to sequestration and have increased with climate-forced marine ice losses\uffe2\uff80\uff94becoming the largest known natural negative feedback on climate change. Here we explore the size and complex dynamics of blue carbon gains with spatiotemporal changes in sea ice (60\uffe2\uff80\uff93100 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921), ice shelves (4\uffe2\uff80\uff9340 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffe2\uff80\uff89=\uffe2\uff80\uff89giant iceberg generation) and glacier retreat (<\uffe2\uff80\uff891 MtCyear\uffe2\uff88\uff921). Estimates suggest that, amongst these, reduced duration of seasonal sea ice is most important. Decreasing sea ice extent drives longer (not necessarily larger biomass) smaller cell-sized phytoplankton blooms, increasing growth of many primary consumers and benthic carbon storage\uffe2\uff80\uff94where sequestration chances are maximal. However, sea ice losses also create positive feedbacks in shallow waters through increased iceberg movement and scouring of benthos. Unlike loss of sea ice, which enhances existing sinks, ice shelf losses generate brand new carbon sinks both where giant icebergs were, and in their wake. These also generate small positive feedbacks from scouring, minimised by repeat scouring at biodiversity hotspots. Blue carbon change from glacier retreat has been least well quantified, and although emerging fjords are small areas, they have high storage-sequestration conversion efficiencies, whilst blue carbon in polar waters faces many diverse and complex stressors. The identity of these are known (e.g. fishing, warming, ocean acidification, non-indigenous species and plastic pollution) but not their magnitude of impact. In order to mediate multiple stressors, research should focus on wider verification of blue carbon gains, projecting future change, and the broader environmental and economic benefits to safeguard blue carbon ecosystems through law.