Ski Tourism Shapes the Snow Microbiome on Ski Slopes in the Italian Central Alps.

ABSTRACT: Winter sports exert significant anthropogenic pressures on the snow microbiome, affecting the entire alpine ecosystem. The massive usage of artificial snow, human occupation, and the release of xenobiotics like microplastics or ski wax components on ski tracks can profoundly alter snow microbial ecology. Here, we reconstructed the temporal dynamics of the snow microbiome at three sites in the Italian Alps: inside and outside a ski track at the impacted site of Santa Caterina Valfurva and near Cancano lake as an unimpacted control. Using epifluorescence microscopy, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, and inferred metagenomics, we found that the snow microbiome inside the track presented a higher load of prokaryotes and viruses. Notably, N₂-fixing microorganisms from cryospheric environ

SUBMITTER: Dell'Acqua AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12444944 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature