A climate-sensitive, contemporary multi-sphere bacterial metacommunity across the Tibetan Plateau (IMAGE)
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Analyzing nearly 800,000 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs), the team found that 94.2% appear in at least two ecosystem types, while 46,305 OTUs are shared across all five. The pattern points to a single, interconnected multi-sphere bacterial metacommunity. Atmospheric aerosols appear to be a major source of glacier microbes, and glaciers themselves act as transfer hubs—microorganisms shared between the air and ice also turn up in significant numbers in downstream rivers, lakes, and soils.
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