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Metabarcoding data reveal vertical multi-taxa variation in topsoil communities during the colonization of deglaciated forelands
  • +15
  • Alessia Guerrieri,
  • Alexis Carteron,
  • Aurélie Bonin,
  • Silvio Marta,
  • Roberto Ambrosini,
  • Marco Caccianiga,
  • Isabel Cantera,
  • Chiara Compostella,
  • Guglielmina Diolaiuti,
  • Diego Fontaneto,
  • Ludovic Gielly,
  • Fabrizio Gili,
  • Mauro Gobbi,
  • Jérôme Poulenard,
  • Pierre Taberlet,
  • Andrea Zerboni,
  • Wilfried Thuiller,
  • Gentile Francesco Ficetola
Alessia Guerrieri
Università degli Studi di Milano

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Alexis Carteron
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Aurélie Bonin
Argaly
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Silvio Marta
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Roberto Ambrosini
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Marco Caccianiga
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Isabel Cantera
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Chiara Compostella
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Guglielmina Diolaiuti
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Diego Fontaneto
Water Research Institute National Research Council Verbania Branch
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Ludovic Gielly
Universite Grenoble Alpes
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Fabrizio Gili
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Mauro Gobbi
MUSE-Science Museum trento
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Jérôme Poulenard
Université Savoie Mont-Blanc
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Pierre Taberlet
Universite Grenoble Alpes
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Andrea Zerboni
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Wilfried Thuiller
Universite Grenoble Alpes
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Gentile Francesco Ficetola
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Abstract

Ice-free areas are increasing worldwide due to the dramatic glacier shrinkage and are undergoing rapid colonization by multiple lifeforms, thus representing key environments to study ecosystem development. Soils have a complex vertical structure. However, we know little about how microbial and animal communities differ across soil depths and development stages during the colonization of deglaciated terrains, how these differences evolve through time, and whether patterns are consistent among different taxonomic groups. Here, we used environmental DNA metabarcoding to describe how community diversity and composition of six groups (Eukaryota, Bacteria, Mycota, Collembola, Insecta, Oligochaeta) differ between surface (0-5 cm) and relatively deep (7.5-20 cm) soils at different stages of development across five Alpine glaciers. Taxonomic diversity increased with time since glacier retreat and with soil evolution; the pattern was consistent across different groups and soil depths. For Eukaryota, and particularly Mycota, alpha-diversity was generally the highest in soils close to the surface. Time since glacier retreat was a more important driver of community composition compared to soil depth; for nearly all the taxa, differences in community composition between surface and deep soils decreased with time since glacier retreat, suggesting that the development of soil and/or of vegetation tends to homogenize the first 20 cm of soil through time. Within both Bacteria and Mycota, several molecular operational taxonomic units were significant indicators of specific depths and/or soil development stages, confirming the strong functional variation of microbial communities through time and depth. The complexity of community patterns highlights the importance of integrating information from multiple taxonomic groups to unravel community variation in response to ongoing global changes.
23 Aug 2022Published in Molecular Ecology. 10.1111/mec.16669