The hidden soil microbial diversity of alpine mountain summits

Mountain summits provide important early indicators of plant community responses to changing climate but there is little knowledge about the diversity and community structures of soil biota interacting with changing vegetation. Here, we study the impact of climatic variables, associated vegetation and soil properties on soil bacterial and fungal communities on ten summits at the alpine-nival ecotone (between 2360 and 3212 m asl) on two types of bedrock in Switzerland (Swiss National Park and Valais).