DyNAFlow

Warming in the Arctic is causing glacial retreat, which exposes deglaciated terrains to biotic colonisation. Ecological studies can provide insights into the local processes (microclimate, biotic interactions) driving the development of soil communities after glacier retreat. However, community dynamics are determined not only by local environmental conditions but also by regional dispersal processes. Nevertheless, there is almost no quantification of allogenic sources compared to autogenic sources because community ecology data cannot differentiate between the two sources. DyNAflow aims to combine genomics and community ecology approaches to better understand colonisation dynamics after glacier retreat, including the assessment of regional dispersal processes driving community compositions and of adaptive evolution to microhabitats and biotic constraints induced by community change across glacial landscapes. Tackling the genetic diversity of glacial biotic communities will provide a mechanistic understanding of population establishment success after glacier retreat and better predict the consequences of future climate changes on Arctic biodiversity.