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Impact of climate change on high-altitude ecosystems

The global retreat of glaciers is dramatically altering mountain and high-latitude landscapes, with new ecosystems developing from apparently barren substrates. The study of these emerging ecosystems is critical to understanding how climate change interacts with microhabitat and biotic communities and determines the future of glacier and peri-glacial habitats.

Our research activities focus in identifying trends, threats and processes acting on the biodiversity associated to glacial and peri-glacial habitats by integrating novel approaches bridging community ecology and functional ecology.

Specifically, we use environmental DNA metabarcoding, trait-based approaches and network theory to investigate the development of high-altitude ecosystems after glacier retreat. Doing that, we are working on 1) building a unique database on the biodiversity of glacier and periglacial ecosystems, including data from poorly studied glaciers, 2) providing new information on the current distribution pattern of taxonomic and functional diversity, on micro-endemic species (i.e. species endemic of very small areas), and on the performance of specialist taxa under changing environmental conditions, 3) analysing trophic and functional interactions across taxa, to identify major ecosystem functions provided by glacial and peri-glacial species and habitats, and 4) identifying evidence-based conservation priorities and actions for managing glacial and periglacial habitats, devising strategies to anticipate and mitigate the consequences of glacier extinction under climate change scenarios.

Linaria alpina growing on the lateral moraine of the Ventina glacier in the Italian Alps

People

full professor

Francesco Gentile Ficetola

post-doc

Isabel Cantera

PhD student

Simone Giachello

PhD student

Andrea Simoncini

PhD student

Virginia Toscano Rivalta

Projects

Publications

  1. Crosta, A., Valle, B., Caccianiga, M., Gobbi, M., Ficetola, F. G., Pittino, F., Franzetti, A., Azzoni, R. S., Lencioni, V., Senese, A., Corlatti, L., Buda, J., Poniecka, E., Novotna Jaromerska, T., Zawierucha, K., & Ambrosini, R. (2025). Ecological interactions in glacier environments: A review of studies on a model Alpine glacier. Biological Reviews, 100(1), 227–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13138
  2. Cantera, I., Carteron, A., Guerrieri, A., Marta, S., Bonin, A., Ambrosini, R., Anthelme, F., Azzoni, R. S., Almond, P., Alviz Gazitúa, P., Cauvy-Fraunié, S., Ceballos Lievano, J. L., Chand, P., Chand Sharma, M., Clague, J., Cochachín Rapre, J. A., Compostella, C., Cruz Encarnación, R., Dangles, O., … Ficetola, G. F. (2024). The importance of species addition ‘versus’ replacement varies over succession in plant communities after glacier retreat. Nature Plants, 10(2), 256–267. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01609-4
  3. Carteron, A., Cantera, I., Guerrieri, A., Marta, S., Bonin, A., Ambrosini, R., Anthelme, F., Azzoni, R. S., Almond, P., Gazitúa, P. A., Cauvy-Fraunié, S., Lievano, J. L. C., Chand, P., Sharma, M. C., Clague, J., Rapre, J. A. C., Compostella, C., Encarnación, R. C., Dangles, O., … Ficetola, G. F. (2024). Dynamics and drivers of mycorrhizal fungi after glacier retreat. New Phytologist, 242(4), 1739–1752. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19682
  4. Ficetola, G. F., Marta, S., Guerrieri, A., Cantera, I., Bonin, A., Cauvy-Fraunié, S., Ambrosini, R., Caccianiga, M., Anthelme, F., Azzoni, R. S., Almond, P., Alviz Gazitúa, P., Ceballos Lievano, J. L., Chand, P., Chand Sharma, M., Clague, J. J., Cochachín Rapre, J. A., Compostella, C., Encarnación, R. C., … Carteron, A. (2024). The development of terrestrial ecosystems emerging after glacier retreat. Nature, 632(8024), 336–342. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07778-2
  5. Giachello, S., Cantera, I., Carteron, A., Bonin, A., Guerrieri, A., Ambrosini, R., Caccianiga, M., Gobbi, M., Marta, S., & Ficetola, G. F. (2024). Functional changes of protist communities in soil after glacier retreat. Science of The Total Environment, 956, 177265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177265
  6. Guerrieri, A., Cantera, I., Marta, S., Bonin, A., Carteron, A., Ambrosini, R., Caccianiga, M., Anthelme, F., Azzoni, R. S., Almond, P., Alvizgazitua, P., Cauvy-Fraunie, S., Ceballoslievano, J. L., Chand, P., Chandsharma, M., Clague, J., Cochachinrapre, J. A., Compostella, C., Cruzencarnacion, R., … Ficetola, G. F. (2024). Local climate modulates the development of soil nematode communities after glacier retreat. Global Change Biology, 30(1), e17057. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17057
  7. Giachello, S., Cantera, I., Carteron, A., Marta, S., Cipriano, C., Guerrieri, A., Bonin, A., Thuiller, W., & Ficetola, G. F. (2023). Toward a common set of functional traits for soil protists. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 187, 109207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109207
  8. Marta, S., Zimmer, A., Caccianiga, M., Gobbi, M., Ambrosini, R., Azzoni, R. S., Gili, F., Pittino, F., Thuiller, W., Provenzale, A., & Ficetola, G. F. (2023). Heterogeneous changes of soil microclimate in high mountains and glacier forelands. Nature Communications, 14, 5306. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41063-6
  9. Zawierucha, K., Kasparova, E. S., Mcinnes, S., Buda, J., Ambrosini, R., Devetter, M., Ficetola, G. F., Franzetti, A., Takeuchi, N., Horna, P., Jaromerska, T. N., Ono, M., Sabacka, M., & Janko, K. (2023). Cryophilic Tardigrada have disjunct and bipolar distribution and establish long-term stable, low-density demes. Polar Biology, 46(10), 1011–1027. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03170-4
  10. Guerrieri, A., Carteron, A., Bonin, A., Marta, S., Ambrosini, R., Caccianiga, M., Cantera, I., Compostella, C., Diolaiuti, G., Fontaneto, D., Gielly, L., Gili, F., Gobbi, M., Poulenard, J., Taberlet, P., Zerboni, A., Thuiller, W., & Ficetola, G. F. (2022). Metabarcoding data reveal vertical multitaxa variation in topsoil communities during the colonization of deglaciated forelands. Molecular Ecology, 32(23), 6304–6319. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16669
  11. Rozwalak, P., Podkowa, P., Buda, J., Niedzielski, P., Kawecki, S., Ambrosini, R., Azzoni, R. S., Baccolo, G., Ceballos, J. L., Cook, J., Di Mauro, B., Ficetola, G. F., Franzetti, A., Ignatiuk, D., Klimaszyk, P., Lokas, E., Ono, M., Parnikoza, I., Pietryka, M., … Zawierucha, K. (2022). Cryoconite – From minerals and organic matter to bioengineered sediments on glacier’s surfaces. Science of The Total Environment, 807(Pt 2), 150874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150874
  12. Diolaiuti, G., Maugeri, M., Senese, A., Panizza, M., Ambrosini, R., Ficetola, G. F., Parolini, M., Fugazza, D., Traversa, G., Scaccia, D., Franceschini, M., Citron, L., & Pelfini, M. (2021). Immersive and virtual tools to see and understand climate change impacts on glaciers: A new challenge for scientific dissemination and incluse education. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 44(1), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.4461/GFDQ.2021.44.6
  13. Ficetola, G. F., Marta, S., Guerrieri, A., Gobbi, M., Ambrosini, R., Fontaneto, D., Zerboni, A., Poulenard, J., Caccianiga, M., & Thuiller, W. (2021). Dynamics of ecological communities following current retreat of glaciers. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 52(1), 405–426. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-010521-040017
  14. Gobbi, M., Ambrosini, R., Casarotto, C., Diolaiuti, G., Ficetola, G. F., Lencioni, V., Seppi, R., Smiraglia, C., Tampucci, D., Valle, B., & Caccianiga, M. (2021). Vanishing permanent glaciers: Climate change is threatening a European Union habitat (Code 8340) and its poorly known biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 30(7), 2267–2276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02185-9
  15. Khedim, N., Cecillon, L., Poulenard, J., Barre, P., Baudin, F., Marta, S., Rabatel, A., Dentant, C., Cauvy-Fraunie, S., Anthelme, F., Gielly, L., Ambrosini, R., Franzetti, A., Azzoni, R. S., Caccianiga, M. S., Compostella, C., Clague, J., Tielidze, L., Messager, E., … Ficetola, G. F. (2021). Topsoil organic matter build-up in glacier forelands around the world. Global Change Biology, 27(8), 1662–1677. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15496
  16. Marta, S., Azzoni, R. S., Fugazza, D., Tielidze, L., Chand, P., Sieron, K., Almond, P., Ambrosini, R., Anthelme, F., Alviz Gazitua, P., Bhambri, R., Bonin, A., Caccianiga, M., Cauvy-Fraunie, S., Lievano, J. L. C., Clague, J., Rapre, J. A. C., Dangles, O., Deline, P., … Ficetola, G. F. (2021). The retreat of mountain glaciers since the little ice age: A spatially explicit database. Data, 6(10), 107. https://doi.org/10.3390/data6100107
  17. Rosero, P., Crespo-Perez, V., Espinosa, R., Andino, P., Barragan, A., Moret, P., Gobbi, M., Ficetola, G. F., Jaramillo, R., Muriel, P., Anthelme, F., Jacobsen, D., Dangles, O., Condom, T., Gielly, L., Poulenard, J., Rabatel, A., Basantes, R., Caceres Correa, B., & Cauvy-Fraunie, S. (2021). Multi-taxa colonisation along the foreland of a vanishing equatorial glacier. Ecography, 44(7), 1010–1021. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05478
  18. Valle, B., Cucini, C., Nardi, F., Caccianiga, M. S., Gobbi, M., Di Musciano, M., Carapelli, A., Ficetola, G. F., Guerrieri, A., & Paolo Fanciulli, P. (2021). Desoria calderonis sp. Nov., a new species of alpine cryophilic springtail (Collembola: Isotomidae) from the Apennines (Italy), with phylogenetic and ecological considerations. European Journal of Taxonomy, 787, 32–52. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.787.1599
  19. Zawierucha, K., Porazinska, D. L., Ficetola, G. F., Ambrosini, R., Baccolo, G., Buda, J., Ceballos, J. L., Devetter, M., Dial, R., Franzetti, A., Fuglewicz, U., Gielly, L., Lokas, E., Janko, K., Novotna Jaromerska, T., Koscinski, A., Kozlowska, A., Ono, M., Parnikoza, I., … Takeuchi, N. (2021). A hole in the nematosphere: Tardigrades and rotifers dominate the cryoconite hole environment, whereas nematodes are missing. Journal of Zoology, 313(1), 18–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12832