Melting Glaciers and Soil Development in the Proglacial Area Morteratsch (Swiss Alps): I. Soil Type Chronosequence

Black carbon contributes to organic matter in young soils in the Morteratsch proglacial area ( Switzerland )

Most glacier forefields of the European Alps are being progressively exposed since the glaciers reached their maximum expansion in the 1850s. Global warming and climate changes additionally promote the exposure of sediments in previously glaciated areas. In these proglacial areas, initial soils have started to develop so that they may offer a continuous chronosequence from 0 to 150-yr-old soils...

Local Environmental Factors Drive Divergent Grassland Soil Bacterial Communities in the Western Swiss Alps.

Mountain ecosystems are characterized by a diverse range of climatic and topographic conditions over short distances and are known to shelter a high biodiversity. Despite important progress, still little is known on bacterial diversity in mountain areas. Here, we investigated soil bacterial biogeography at more than 100 sampling sites randomly stratified across a 700-km2 area with 2,200-m eleva...

Soil carbon fluxes and stocks in a Great Lakes forest chronosequence Running title: Soil carbon in a chronosequence

Sensitivity of Very Small Glaciers in the Swiss Alps to Future Climate Change

Very small glaciers (<0.5 km2) account for more than 80% of the total number of glaciers in midto low-latitude mountain ranges. Although their total area and volume is small compared to larger glaciers, they are a relevant component of the cryosphere, contributing to landscape formation, local hydrology, and sea-level rise. Worldwide glacier monitoring mostly focuses on medium-sized to large gl...

Long-term rice cultivation stabilizes soil organic carbon and promotes soil microbial activity in a salt marsh derived soil chronosequence

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration with enhanced stable carbon storage has been widely accepted as a very important ecosystem property. Yet, the link between carbon stability and bio-activity for ecosystem functioning with OC accumulation in field soils has not been characterized. We assessed the changes in microbial activity versus carbon stability along a paddy soil chronosequence shifti...