Experimental evidence on the impact of climate-induced hydrological and thermal variations on glacier-fed stream biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is predicted to alter the hydrological and thermal regimes of high-mountain streams, particularly glacier-fed streams. However, relatively little is known about how these environmental changes impact the microbial communities in glacier-fed streams. Here, we operated streamside flume mesocosms in the Swiss Alps, where benthic biofilms were grown under treatments simulating climate change. Treatments comprised four flow (natural, intermittent, stochastic, and constant) and two temperature (ambient streamwater and warming of +2°C) regimes. We monitored microbial biomass, diversity, community composition, and metabolic diversity in biofilms over 3 months. We found that community composition was largely influenced by successional dynamics independent of the treatments. While sto

SUBMITTER: Touchette D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11705997 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature