Bacterial communities in surface and basal ice of a glacier terminus in the headwaters of Yangtze River on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

ABSTRACT:

Background

On the front lines of climate change, glacier termini play crucial roles in linking glaciers and downstream ecosystems during glacier retreat. However, we lack a clear understanding of biological processes that occur in surface and basal ice at glacier termini.

Methods

Here, we studied the bacterial communities in surface ice and basal ice (the bottom layer) of a glacier terminus in the Yangtze River Source, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Results

Surface and basal ice harbored distinct bacterial communities but shared some core taxa. Surface ice communities had a higher α-diversity than those in basal ice and were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Cyanobacteria while basal ice was dominated by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria.

SUBMITTER: Ren Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8962558 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature