eDNA metabarcoding to estimate plant biodiversity in Alpine glaciers: a pilot study on the Adamello glacier firn (Italy)

Glaciers were long studied as records of climatic variables. The possibility to extend the spectrum of information to the biological component archived in the glacier ice is now emerging. Pollen, produced in large quantities by wind-pollinated plant species, can travel long distances and reach extreme habitats like glaciers. There it accumulates in the ice layers during the years. Glaciers have thus the potential to log plant biodiversity through the pollen proxy. In order to verify the feasibility of the very first pollen DNA metabarcoding study on an alpine glacier, the deepest and widest Italian glacier was chosen, potentially archiving information dating back to the Little Ice Age.