Diversity and biogeography of the bacterial microbiome in glacier-fed streams

Leïla Ezzat (), Hannes Peter, Massimo Bourquin, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Michoud, Stilianos Fodelianakis, Tyler J. Kohler, Thomas Lamy, Aileen Geers, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Florian Baier, Ramona Marasco, Daniele Daffonchio, Nicola Deluigi, Paul Wilmes, Michail Styllas, Martina Schön, Matteo Tolosano, Vincent Staercke and Tom J. Battin ()
Additional contact information
Leïla Ezzat: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Hannes Peter: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Massimo Bourquin: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Susheel Bhanu Busi: UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Grégoire Michoud: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Stilianos Fodelianakis: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Tyler J. Kohler: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Thomas Lamy: MARBEC, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD
Aileen Geers: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Paraskevi Pramateftaki: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Florian Baier: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Ramona Marasco: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Daniele Daffonchio: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Nicola Deluigi: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Paul Wilmes: University of Luxembourg
Michail Styllas: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Martina Schön: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Matteo Tolosano: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Vincent Staercke: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Tom J. Battin: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Nature, 2025, vol. 637, issue 8046, 622-630

Abstract: Abstract The rapid melting of mountain glaciers and the vanishing of their streams is emblematic of climate change1,2. Glacier-fed streams (GFSs) are cold, oligotrophic and unstable ecosystems in which life is dominated by microbial biofilms2,3. However, current knowledge on the GFS microbiome is scarce4,5, precluding an understanding of its response to glacier shrinkage. Here, by leveraging metabarcoding and metagenomics, we provide a comprehensive survey of bacteria in the benthic microbiome across 152 GFSs draining the Earth’s major mountain ranges. We find that the GFS bacterial microbiome is taxonomically and functionally distinct from other cryospheric microbiomes. GFS bacteria are diverse, with more than half being specific to a given mountain range, some unique to single GFSs and a few cosmopolitan and abundant. We show how geographic isolation and environmental selection shape their biogeography, which is characterized by distinct compositional patterns between mountain ranges and hemispheres. Phylogenetic analyses furthermore uncovered microdiverse clades resulting from environmental selection, probably promoting functional resilience and contributing to GFS bacterial biodiversity and biogeography. Climate-induced glacier shrinkage puts this unique microbiome at risk. Our study provides a global reference for future climate-change microbiology studies on the vanishing GFS ecosystem.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08313-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:637:y:2025:i:8046:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08313-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08313-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().