Abstract:
The global retreat of glaciers is dramatically altering mountain and high-latitude landscapes, with new ecosystems developing from apparently barren substrates1-4. The study of these emerging ecosystems is critical to understanding how climate change interacts with microhabitat and biotic communities and determines the future of ice-free terrains1,5. Here, using a comprehensive characterization of ecosystems (soil properties, microclimate, productivity and biodiversity by environmental DNA metabarcoding6) across 46 proglacial landscapes worldwide, we found that all the environmental properties change with time since glaciers retreated, and that temperature modulates the accumulation of soil nutrients. The richness of bacteria, fungi, plants and animals increases with time since deglaciation, but their temporal patterns differ. Microorganisms colonized most rapidly in the first decades after glacier retreat, whereas most macroorganisms took longer. Increased habitat suitability, growing complexity of biotic interactions and temporal colonization all contribute to the increase in biodiversity over time. These processes also modify community composition for all the groups of organisms. Plant communities show positive links with all other biodiversity components and have a key role in ecosystem development. These unifying patterns provide new insights into the early dynamics of deglaciated terrains and highlight the need for integrated surveillance of their multiple environmental properties5.
摘要:
冰川的全球撤退正在极大地改变山脉和高纬度景观,新的生态系统从明显贫瘠的基质1-4发展而来。对这些新兴生态系统的研究对于理解气候变化如何与微生境和生物群落相互作用并决定无冰地形的未来至关重要。这里,使用生态系统的综合表征(土壤特性,小气候,通过环境DNA的生产力和生物多样性6)在全球46个冰原景观中,我们发现所有的环境属性都随着时间的推移而改变,温度调节土壤养分的积累。丰富的细菌,真菌,植物和动物随着时间的推移而增加,但是它们的时间模式不同。微生物在冰川退缩后的最初几十年中定居最快,而大多数大型生物需要更长的时间。增加栖息地的适应性,随着时间的推移,生物相互作用和时间定殖的日益复杂都有助于生物多样性的增加。这些过程还改变了所有生物群体的群落组成。植物群落显示出与所有其他生物多样性组成部分的积极联系,并在生态系统发展中发挥关键作用。这些统一的模式为冰川消融地形的早期动态提供了新的见解,并强调了对其多种环境特性进行综合监测的必要性5。