Soil hosts key components of terrestrial biodiversity providing essential services to the below- and above-ground ecosystems. The worldwide retreat of glaciers is exposing new deglaciated terrains, offering a unique opportunity to understand the development of soil ecosystems under a changing climate. Many studies have investigated how biotic communities change after deglaciation, but protists have often been overlooked despite their key role in multiple ecosystem functions. Here, we aim to understand how protist communities develop along glacier forelands, describing their successional trajectories. Protist communities were characterized in 1251 soil samples from 46 glacier forelands across four continents. We used environmental DNA metabarcoding to identify the Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) of protists based on a universal eukaryotic marker. The detected MOTUs were combined with information on multiple traits to assess how the functional diversity and composition of protist communities vary through time. Immediately after glacier retreat, protist communities are like those of polar and high-altitude habitats, with consumers being the dominant trophic group, followed by a relevant presence of phototrophs, while parasites were underrepresented. Over the succession, we detected an increase in taxonomic and functional diversity, but some highly specialized groups (e.g. phototrophic algae) declined. The use of a trait-based approach allowed us to identify distinct successional patterns depending on functional groups. Through the functional characterization of a crucial but understudied component of soil biotic communities, our study added one of the final pieces needed to predict how soil ecosystems will develop in the rapidly changing environment of glacier forelands.

Functional changes of protist communities in soil after glacier retreat / S. Giachello, I. Cantera, A. Carteron, A. Bonin, A. Guerrieri, R. Ambrosini, M. Caccianiga, M. Gobbi, S. Marta, G.F. Ficetola. - In: SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. - ISSN 0048-9697. - 956:(2024 Dec), pp. 177265.1-177265.11. [10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177265]

Functional changes of protist communities in soil after glacier retreat

S. Giachello
Primo
;
I. Cantera
Secondo
;
A. Carteron;A. Bonin;A. Guerrieri;R. Ambrosini;M. Caccianiga;M. Gobbi;S. Marta
Penultimo
;
G.F. Ficetola
Ultimo
2024

Abstract

Soil hosts key components of terrestrial biodiversity providing essential services to the below- and above-ground ecosystems. The worldwide retreat of glaciers is exposing new deglaciated terrains, offering a unique opportunity to understand the development of soil ecosystems under a changing climate. Many studies have investigated how biotic communities change after deglaciation, but protists have often been overlooked despite their key role in multiple ecosystem functions. Here, we aim to understand how protist communities develop along glacier forelands, describing their successional trajectories. Protist communities were characterized in 1251 soil samples from 46 glacier forelands across four continents. We used environmental DNA metabarcoding to identify the Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) of protists based on a universal eukaryotic marker. The detected MOTUs were combined with information on multiple traits to assess how the functional diversity and composition of protist communities vary through time. Immediately after glacier retreat, protist communities are like those of polar and high-altitude habitats, with consumers being the dominant trophic group, followed by a relevant presence of phototrophs, while parasites were underrepresented. Over the succession, we detected an increase in taxonomic and functional diversity, but some highly specialized groups (e.g. phototrophic algae) declined. The use of a trait-based approach allowed us to identify distinct successional patterns depending on functional groups. Through the functional characterization of a crucial but understudied component of soil biotic communities, our study added one of the final pieces needed to predict how soil ecosystems will develop in the rapidly changing environment of glacier forelands.
Ecological succession; Functional diversity; Glacier forelands; Soil protists; Spatiotemporal gradient
Settore BIOS-03/A - Zoologia
Settore BIOS-05/A - Ecologia
Settore BIOS-15/A - Microbiologia
   Reconstructing community dynamics and ecosystem functioning after glacial retreat (IceCommunities)
   IceCommunities
   EUROPEAN COMMISSION
   H2020
   772284

   Vanishing habitats: conservation priorities for glacier-related biodiversity threatened by climate change (PrioritIce)
   PrioritIce
   MINISTERO DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA
   Biodiversa2021-280

   The European Biodiversity Partnership
   Biodiversa-plus
   European Commission
   Horizon Europe Framework Programme
   101052342
dic-2024
nov-2024
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/1119215
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