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Glacial recession in Andean North-Patagonia (Argentina): microbial communities in benthic biofilms of glacier-fed streams

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Abstract

Global climate change produces important shifts in the glacial runoff, modifying the relative contributions of meltwater and glacial clay discharges into headwater streams. Physical and chemical factors of glacier-fed streams are affected, such as total suspended solids (TSS), and nutrient concentrations. Here, we analyze the composition of the biofilm bacterial community by 16S rRNA sequencing along a glacier-fed network (Upper Río Manso) located in North Patagonian Andes (Argentina). We also analyzed changes in environmental factors in relation to the bacteria composition in different seasons (spring, summer, and autumn). Our results showed that the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, and Acidobacteriota. Bacterial community composition changes longitudinally and seasonally in relation to glacial influence (TSS and phosphorus concentrations). We identified phylotypes of Proteobacteria (Polaromonas, Rhodoferax, and Methylotenera) that were only present in headwaters of the fluvial systems. In addition, Cyanobacteria also presented substantial changes along the main course of Manso River and among seasons. The increase of Cyanobacteria abundance was favored by the glacial influence both longitudinally and seasonally. Overall our results contribute to the understanding of the patterns of biodiversity and bacterial composition under a constant glacial retreat.

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Data availability

All the data generated during and/or analyzed during the current study will be available at the data repository of Universidad del Comahue http://rdi.uncoma.edu.ar/. The sequencing data have been deposited in NCBI BioProject PRJNA901989 with the Biosample accessions SAMN31743636-SAMN31743660.

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Funding

Sampling was conducted with permission IF-2022-07173030-APN-DRPN#APNAC by Administración Parques Nacionales, Argentina. This work was supported by grants FONCyT2017-1940 to EB, FONCyT2018-1563 to BM and FONCyT2020-0383 to EB and UNComahue B-236.

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  1. Laboratorio de Limnología, INIBIOMA, CONICET – Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Evelyn Vega, Marcela Bastidas Navarro, Nicolás Martyniuk, Esteban Balseiro & Beatriz Modenutti

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  1. Evelyn Vega
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  2. Marcela Bastidas Navarro
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Correspondence to Marcela Bastidas Navarro.

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Vega, E., Bastidas Navarro, M., Martyniuk, N. et al. Glacial recession in Andean North-Patagonia (Argentina): microbial communities in benthic biofilms of glacier-fed streams. Hydrobiologia 850, 3965–3979 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05279-3

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