Bacteria, fungi, Eukaryotes, and nematode communities in Puca Glacier

How different components of complex soil communities assemble within fore fields of receding glaciers is still largely unknown. To examine succession of soil communities across different trophic levels, we investigated four major soil groups; bacteria, fungi, non-fungal eukaryotes, and nematodes at the Puca Glacier chronosequence in the Peruvian Andes spanning 9-, 24-, and 89-years old deglaciated soils. This study is the first to characterize microbial communities, other than bacteria, at a high-elevation chronosequence in the Andes Mountains.