About this Research Topic
Many connections between physical, chemical, and biological processes on and under the ice and their downstream ecosystems are yet to be discovered. The study of glaciers and ice sheets as a biome and its interactions with adjacent habitats is still in its infancy. For instance, there are a number of abiotic reactions under the ice that underpin microbial activity, diversity and biogeochemical transformations that are still poorly understood. Despite many studies have now demonstrated that glaciers and ice sheets harbor active microbial communities, we know little about how viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoan and metazoan organisms interact with each other or how microbial communities have evolved to become adapted to the glacier and ice sheet biome. The scope of the Research Topic is broad and covers:
1) Key mechanisms and controls of microbial activity in surface ice and subglacial environments;
2) Investigations of the feedback between microbes and their physical and chemical environment;
3) Conceptual models of the consequences of glacial biome loss on global and local biogeochemical cycles of adjacent habitats;
4) Advances of our understanding of the ecosystem services provided by the glacier biome.
Both original and review papers about specific aspects of the glacier and ice sheet biome are welcome, as well as mini-reviews, perspectives and opinions.
Keywords: glaciers, ice sheets, subglacial lakes, microbial ecology, microbial diversity, glacial biogeochemistry, glacial microbiology
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.