A5084561388- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Cryospheric studies and observations
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Polar Research and Ecology
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Nematode management and characterization studies
- Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
- Melanoma and MAPK Pathways
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Invertebrate Taxonomy and Ecology
- Collembola Taxonomy and Ecology Studies
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Educational theories and practices
- Climate change and permafrost
- Lichen and fungal ecology
- Indigenous Studies and Ecology
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
University of Milan
2020-2024
Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine
2023
Glaciers are retreating globally, and the resulting ice-free areas provide an experimental system for understanding species colonization patterns, community formation, dynamics. The last several years have seen crucial advances in our of biotic after glacier retreats, from integration methodological innovations ecological theories. Recent empirical studies demonstrated how multiple factors can speed up or slow down velocity helped scientists develop theoretical models that describe...
We describe and delimit with integrative taxonomy the new springtail species Desoria calderonis sp. nov. (Collembola: Isotomidae). This cryophilic is strictly linked to supraglacial stony debris of isolated Calderone glacier (Central Apennines, Italy), one southernmost glaciers Europe. could belong nivalis-complex, a group European mountain included in violacea-group. Genetic analysis (COI mtDNA barcoding) confirms morphological attribution genus Nicolet Desor, 1841, but highlights that...
Clustering approaches are pivotal to handle the many sequence variants obtained in DNA metabarcoding data sets, and therefore they have become a key step of analysis pipelines. often relies on similarity threshold gather sequences into molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), each which ideally represents homogeneous entity (e.g., species or genus). However, choice clustering is rarely justified, its impact MOTU over-splitting over-merging even less tested. Here, we evaluated values...
Most of the world’s mountain glaciers have been retreating for more than a century in response to climate change. Glacier retreat is evident on all continents, and rate has accelerated during recent decades. Accurate, spatially explicit information position glacier margins over time useful analyzing patterns measuring reductions surface area. This also essential evaluating how ecosystems are evolving due warming attendant retreat. Here, we present non-comprehensive dataset showing multiple...
Aquatic insects represent the majority of freshwater biodiversity, yet they are less studied than other taxa. Responses aquatic communities to stressors rarely assessed and usually measured in terms taxonomic richness derived from presence-absence data, despite certain mechanisms that may cause a reduction biomass species, without causing their disappearance. The integration functional measures with is often disregarded due methodological difficulties, particularly concerning insects....
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is becoming a key tool for biodiversity monitoring over large geographical or taxonomic scales and elusive taxa such as soil organisms. Increasing sample sizes interest in remote extreme areas often require the preservation of samples thus deviations from optimal standardized protocols. However, we still ignore impact different methods on results studies there no guideline best practices so far. Here, assessed four that can be conveniently used also...
Soil biodiversity is fundamental for ecosystems, ensuring many ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, soil formation, and carbon pool increase. Due to these roles, there a need study completely understand how composed through different habitats. The aim of this was describe the edaphic community alpine environments belonging Gran Paradiso National Park, thus detecting if are any correlation with environmental features. We studied fauna DNA metabarcoding....
Summary The development of terrestrial ecosystems depends greatly on plant mutualists such as mycorrhizal fungi. global retreat glaciers exposes nutrient‐poor substrates in extreme environments and provides a unique opportunity to study early successions fungi by assessing their dynamics drivers. We combined environmental DNA metabarcoding measurements local conditions assess the succession communities during soil 46 glacier forelands around globe, testing whether drivers differ between...
Ice-free areas are expanding worldwide due to dramatic glacier shrinkage and undergoing rapid colonization by multiple lifeforms, thus representing key environments study ecosystem development. It has been proposed that the dynamics of deglaciated terrains is different between surface deep soils but heterogeneity communities inhabiting decreases through time. Nevertheless, tests this hypothesis remain scarce, it unclear whether patterns consistent among taxonomic groups. Here, we used...
Protists are major actors of soil communities and play key roles in shaping food webs, community assembly, ecosystem processes, yet their functional diversity is understudied. High-throughput sequencing data have revealed ubiquity diversity, but lack standardized traits has hampered the integration information, limiting our understanding ecosystems. Here we propose a framework for protists, identify set common to characterize apply on broad-scale, real-world dataset. We reviewed studies...
Nematodes are keystone actors of soil, freshwater and marine ecosystems, but the complexity morphological identification has limited broad-scale monitoring nematode biodiversity. DNA metabarcoding is increasingly used to assess diversity requires universal primers with high taxonomic coverage resolution. Several have been proposed for diversity, many which target 18S rRNA gene. In silico analyses a great potential key parameters primers, including coverage, resolution specificity. Based on...
Abstract The worldwide retreat of glaciers is causing a faster than ever increase in ice‐free areas that are leading to the emergence new ecosystems. Understanding dynamics these environments critical predicting consequences climate change on mountains and at high latitudes. Climatic differences between regions world could modulate biodiversity functionality after glacier retreat, yet global tests this hypothesis lacking. Nematodes most abundant soil animals, with keystone roles ecosystem...
Abstract Mechanisms underlying plant succession remain highly debated. A global quantification of the relative importance species addition versus replacement is lacking due to local scope most studies. We quantified their role in variation communities colonizing forelands 46 retreating glaciers distributed worldwide, using both environmental DNA and traditional surveys. Both mechanisms concur determining community changes over time but varied along successions. Taxa predominated immediately...
Environmental DNA metabarcoding is becoming a key tool for biodiversity monitoring over large geographical or taxonomic scales and elusive taxa like soil organisms. Increasing sample sizes interest in remote extreme areas often require the preservation of samples thus deviations from optimal standardized protocols. However, we still ignore impact different methods on results studies there no guidelines best practices so far. Here, assessed four commonly used (preservation at room temperature...
Soil hosts key components of terrestrial biodiversity providing essential services to the below- and above-ground ecosystems. The worldwide retreat glaciers is exposing new deglaciated terrains, offering a unique opportunity understand development soil ecosystems under changing climate. Many studies have investigated how biotic communities change after deglaciation, but protists often been overlooked despite their role in multiple ecosystem functions. Here, we aim protist develop along...
Abstract Nematodes are keystone actors of soil, freshwater and marine ecosystems, but the complexity morphological identification has limited broad-scale monitoring their biodiversity. DNA metabarcoding is increasingly used to assess nematode biodiversity requires universal primers with high taxonomic coverage resolution. Several have been proposed for diversity, many which target 18S rRNA gene. In-silico analyses a great potential key parameters primers, including coverage, resolution...
Ice-free areas are increasing worldwide due to the dramatic glacier shrinkage and undergoing rapid colonization by multiple lifeforms, thus representing key environments study ecosystem development. Soils have a complex vertical structure. However, we know little about how microbial animal communities differ across soil depths development stages during of deglaciated terrains, these differences evolve through time, whether patterns consistent among different taxonomic groups. Here, used...
Clustering approaches are pivotal to handle the many sequence variants obtained in DNA metabarcoding datasets, therefore they have become a key step of analysis pipelines. often relies on similarity threshold gather sequences Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) that ideally each represent homogeneous taxonomic entity, e.g. species or genus. However, choice clustering is rarely justified, and its impact MOTU over-splitting over-merging even less tested. Here, we evaluated values for...