Bacterial communities changes in cryoconite on an alpine glacier
Francesca Pittino, University of Milano (IT)
Cryoconite holes are small depressions of glacier surfaces full of water with a fine-grained sediment on the bottom. They are the most biologically active environments of glaciers and are considered as a stable microhabitat. In our study we investigated temporal variation of bacterial communities on the Forni Glacier (Italian Alps) during the ablation season. Our results showed that bacterial communities in cryoconite holes are unstable. In fact they changed mostly because of temporal variation, and secondly as a consequence of environmental conditions (i.e. holes shape, O2 concentration etc).