Sponsor
This work was conducted under the special use film permit for Professor Jacki Klancher at the Central Wyoming College Alpine Science Institute. The authors are grateful to the USFS for their support. We also wish to thank Jessica Henley and the rest of Noah Fierer’s laboratory group for preparation of amplicon libraries, the Biofrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder for performing the DNA sequencing, and the University of Wyoming Ecology and Biochemistry Core Lab for biogeochemical measurements. Funding for sequencing was from NSF grants [1935689] and [2137375] to PS and SKS.
Published In
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-20-2026
Subjects
Glaciers -- Wyoming
Abstract
Mountain glaciers are disappearing rapidly, and with their disappearance, we may be losing unstudied biodiversity and genetic resources. A variety of habitats for microorganisms exist on glaciers, especially within pockets of supraglacial sediments (cryoconite) that support high levels of biological activity and diversity. We used biogeochemical approaches, high-throughput DNA sequencing, and microscopy to describe the biogeochemistry and microbial communities of supraglacial sediments on the Dinwoody Glacier in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations were high, and C:N ratios were close to the Redfield ratio indicating active nutrient cycling. We found unique microbial communities in sediments at different elevations on the glacier, with greater diversity near the terminus. Bacterial communities were dominated by photosynthetic cyanobacteria and numerous polymer-decomposing members of the Bacteroidetes. Eukaryotic communities were dominated by snow algae and ciliated protists among other predators and decomposers. DNA sequencing also yielded evidence of past eolian inputs of insect and plant materials including DNA from Orthoptera that may be remnants of locust swarms that were entombed in the glacier in the past. Overall, we found a robustly functioning ecosystem on Dinwoody Glacier with distinct supraglacial habitats and organisms that are rapidly disappearing due to human-induced climate change.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.1080/15230430.2025.2600126
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44441
Citation Details
Sommers, P., Traver, E., Orthel, A., Fountain, A. G., Klancher, J., & Schmidt, S. K. (2026). Microbial communities and biogeochemistry of a melting Rocky Mountain glacier. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 58(1).