WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Across four glacier forefields, researchers combined chronosequences, vegetation surveys, soil chemistry, topography and bacterial/fungal sequencing. Microbial source identity—lichens, biological soil crusts, mosses, vascular plants or bulk soil—was the primary organizer of diversity and composition. Structural-equation modeling indicated that successional age also acted indirectly through source colonization and soil development.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Primary succession is not a single clock. The organisms that establish on new substrate create distinct microbial habitats, so biotic assembly and geomorphic age are intertwined rather than interchangeable explanations.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is a chronosequence across four glacier forefields, not continuous observation of the same sites through time. Network and structural-equation analyses infer organization and association rather than direct interaction or causal succession pathways.
SOURCE
FEMS Microbiology Ecology
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