Jing Wei and colleagues present results from a field study of 31 lakes in the form of chronosequences in the proximity of rapidly receding glaciers in Kongsfjorden and Longyearbyen (high Arctic Svalbard), and use a corresponding gradient from a glacier front at an alpine site in central Norway for comparison (Finse). They reveal the genomic succession from chemolithotrophy to photo- and heterotrophy and increases in methane supersaturation in freshwater lakes upon glacial retreat. They show diverse microbial succession patterns, and trajectories in carbon and nitrogen cycle processes representing a positive feedback loop of deglaciation on climate warming.
The article can be read at the journal website.
Wei, J., Fontaine, L., Valiente, N., Dörsch, P., Hessen, D.O., Eiler, A., 2023. Trajectories of freshwater microbial genomics and greenhouse gas saturation upon glacial retreat. Nat Commun 14, 3234. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38806-w