Glaciers and ice sheets, like other biomes, occupy a significant area of the planet and
harbour biological communities with distinct interactions and feedbacks with their physical …

Glacier ecosystems are teeming with life on, beneath, and to a lesser degree, within their icy
masses. This conclusion largely stems from polar research, with less attention paid to …

Cryoconite is granular sediment found on glacier surfaces comprising both mineral and
biological material. Despite long having been recognised as an important glaciological and …

Glaciers and ice sheets are melting in response to climate warming. Whereas the physical
behaviour of glaciers has been studied intensively, the biological processes associated with …

Darkening of parts of the Greenland ice sheet surface during the summer months leads to
reduced albedo and increased melting. Here we show that heavily pigmented, actively …

The unique living environment of marine microorganisms endows them with the potential to
produce novel chemical compounds with various biological activities. Among them, the …

Polar ice sheets hold a significant pool of the world's carbon reserve and are an integral
component of the global carbon cycle. Yet, organic carbon composition and cycling in these …

Rapid disintegration of alpine glaciers has led to the formation of new terrain consisting of
mineral debris colonized by microorganisms. Despite the importance of microbial pioneers …

Runoff from small glacier systems contains dissolved organic carbon (DOC) rich in protein-
like, low molecular weight (LMW) compounds, designating glaciers as an important source …

Roughly 10% of the Earth's surface is permanently covered by glaciers and ice sheets and
in mountain ecosystems, this proportion of ice cover is often even higher. From an ecological …