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Metabolically flexible microorganisms rapidly establish glacial foreland ecosystems
Francesco Ricci1,2, Sean K Bay1,3, Philipp A Nauer4
1Department of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Nature Communications
|November 26, 2025
Summary
Microbial communities rapidly colonize new glacial foreland soils. Metabolically flexible bacteria drive primary succession by utilizing diverse energy sources and facilitating chemosynthetic primary production.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Microbiology
- Geosciences
Background:
- Understanding ecosystem formation is a key ecological question.
- Studying microbial colonization in environments with minimal life aids in testing ecosystem formation theories.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the functional basis of microbial colonization in glacial forelands.
- Examine microbial community dynamics in Antarctic and Swiss glacier forelands using quantitative ecology, metagenomics, and biogeochemistry.
Main Methods:
- Integrated quantitative ecology, metagenomics, and biogeochemical measurements.
- Analyzed 589 species-level metagenome-assembled genomes.
- Conducted field and laboratory biogeochemical measurements.
Main Results:
- Generalist and opportunistic microbes rapidly colonize glacial forelands and persist over time.
- Metabolically flexible chemotrophic aerobes utilize diverse organic and inorganic compounds for energy and carbon.
- Early colonizers are characterized by metabolic flexibility, while later colonizers include specialists like Cyanobacteria and ammonia-oxidizing archaea.
Conclusions:
- Metabolic flexibility is crucial for early microbial colonization in glacial forelands.
- Metabolically flexible bacteria drive primary succession through chemosynthetic primary production.
- These early colonizers create a more favorable environment for subsequent microbial community development.
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