High microbial diversity in glacial habitats uncoupled from the specialized microbiomes of resident chironomid fauna.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystems associated with retreating glaciers are undergoing rapid transformation in the context of a changing climate. Invertebrate fauna, including the Chironomidae insect family (non-biting midges), is part of the active biology that characterizes glaciers and their surrounding habitats. The underlying microbiology, present in both the insects' guts and their physical habitat, represents a critical interface, controlling, on the one hand, the basis of nutrient geochemical cycling and, on the other, the health and nutritional physiology of its hosts. We aimed to assess the extent to which insect-borne bacteria resemble those found in icemelt water and the surrounding wet and terrestrial environments, in order to determine also whether the bacteria found associated with the insects could

SUBMITTER: Lencioni V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12782408 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature