ABSTRACT
Glaciers are constantly retreating because of global warming. In this study, three soil samples along the forefield of Urumqi Glacier No. 1 were collected. The effects of warming on the microbial community in the glacier forefield were investigated through a 150-day laboratory experiment. In this experiment, two temperature treatments were performed at 5âand 15â. The results showed that with increasing deglaciation age, the concentrations of carbon and nitrogen increased and the abundance and alpha diversity of microbial communities increased in the original samples. The 150-day laboratory experiment indicated that warming insignificantly changed the copy number of archaea and bacteria. Furthermore, it changed the microbial community composition, and the changes varied in different sampling sites. Based on the analysis of abundant OTUs changing significantly with warming, the sampling sites with shorter deglaciation age had stronger response with warming, representing an increase in the abundance of genus Thiobacillus. Furthermore, these results revealed that warming caused different effects on microbes along glacier forefield and thus, it could provide important characteristics of the microbial community with warming in alpine glacier regions.