Soil microbial diversity, succession, and greenhouse gas cycling across a Greenlandic glacial chronosequence

Clicks: 5
ID: 316948
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #46 of 78 articles by views in fems microbiology ecology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Accelerated glacial retreat in Greenland drives increased development of glacial outwash plains. These newly exposed landscapes provide an opportunity to study microbial dynamics during soil development. We explore soil microbial diversity, community assembly, and biogeochemical cycling across the Kiattuut Sermiat glacial chronosequence (southern Greenland) via 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis paired with microbial abundance, soil physicochemical parameters, and gas flux data. Microbial diversity varied with soil depth, with more acidic topsoils abundant in Cyanobacteriota and Armatimonadota taxa. While aerobic lower soils likely contained relatively more anoxic pore spaces, hosting aerobic nitrifiers such as Nitrospirota, low oxygen associated Planctomycetota taxa, and less characterised Gemmatimonadota. Microbial diversity varied across the chronosequence following distance-decay principles, as communities were predominately dispersal limited and shaped by heterogenous selection, with greater heterogeneous conditions further from the glacier terminus. Soil CO2 fluxes increased with distance from the glacier, following a shift from autotrophic sulfur- and iron-oxidising taxa towards heterotrophic members. CH4 fluxes demonstrated greater uptake further from the glacier and CH4-oxidation was associated with the methanotroph Methylocapsa. Considering the climatic relevancy of Greenlandic proglacial environments, we describe the largely unexplored microbial diversity and biogeochemical cycling of greenhouse gases in these developing soils.
Reference Key
openalex_W7164320921 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors G. Alex. Marsh, Massimo Bourquin, Alanna Leale, Lisa Bröder, Ianina Altshuler
Journal fems microbiology ecology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/femsec/fiag054
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiag054
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.