Publications by Matteo Tolosano

Predicting climate-change impacts on the global glacier-fed stream microbiome

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Andrew Lean Robison

The shrinkage of glaciers and the vanishing of glacier-fed streams (GFSs) are emblematic of climate change. However, forecasts of how GFS microbiome structure and function will change under projected climate change scenarios are lacking. Combining 2,333 pr ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2025

Mapping the metagenomic diversity of the multi-kingdom glacier-fed stream microbiome

Hannes Markus Peter, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Martina Andrea Schön

Glacier-fed streams (GFS) feature among Earth’s most extreme aquatic ecosystems marked by pronounced oligotrophy and environmental fluctuations. Microorganisms mainly organize in biofilms within them, but how they cope with such conditions is unknown. Here ...

2025

Diversity and biogeography of the bacterial microbiome in glacier-fed streams

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Nicola Deluigi, Matteo Tolosano, Florian Baier, Tyler Joe Kohler, Stylianos Fodelianakis

The rapid melting of mountain glaciers and the vanishing of their streams is emblematic of climate change1,2. Glacier-fed streams (GFSs) are cold, oligotrophic and unstable ecosystems in which life is dominated by microbial biofilms2,3. However, current kn ...

2025

Gradients of Deposition and In Situ Production Drive Global Glacier Organic Matter Composition

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Matteo Tolosano, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Michail Styllas, Martina Andrea Schön

Runoff from rapidly melting mountain glaciers is a dominant source of riverine organic carbon in many high-latitude and high-elevation regions. Glacier dissolved organic carbon is highly bioavailable, and its composition likely reflects internal (e.g., aut ...

2024

A Tropical Cocktail of Organic Matter Sources: Variability in Supraglacial and Glacier Outflow Dissolved Organic Matter Composition and Age Across the Ecuadorian Andes

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Matteo Tolosano, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Michail Styllas, Martina Andrea Schön

The biogeochemistry of rapidly retreating Andean glaciers is poorly understood, and Ecuadorian glacier dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition is unknown. This study examined molecular composition and carbon isotopes of DOM from supraglacial and outflow ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2023

Glacier-Fed Stream Biofilms Harbor Diverse Resistomes and Biosynthetic Gene Clusters

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Tyler Joe Kohler

Antimicrobial resistance is an omnipresent phenomenon in the anthropogenically influenced ecosystems. However, its role in shaping microbial community dynamics in pristine environments is relatively unknown. ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2023

The dark side of the moon: first insights into the microbiome structure and function of one of the last glacier-fed streams in Africa

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Michail Styllas

The glaciers on Africa's 'Mountains of the Moon' (Rwenzori National Park, Uganda) are predicted to disappear within the next decades owing to climate change. Consequently, the glacier-fed streams (GFSs) that drain them will vanish, along with their residen ...

ROYAL SOC2023

Benthic Biofilms in Glacier-Fed Streams from Scandinavia to the Himalayas Host Distinct Bacterial Communities Compared with the Streamwater

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Emmy Marie Oppliger, Jade Brandani, Paraskevi Pramateftaki

Microbial life in glacier-fed streams (GFSs) is dominated by benthic biofilms which fulfill critical ecosystem processes. However, it remains unclear how the bacterial communities of these biofilms assemble in stream ecosystems characterized by rapid turno ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2022

Glacier shrinkage will accelerate downstream decomposition of organic matter and alters microbiome structure and function

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Nicola Deluigi, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Jade Brandani

The shrinking of glaciers is among the most iconic consequences of climate change. Despite this, the downstream consequences for ecosystem processes and related microbiome structure and function remain poorly understood. Here, using a space-for-time substi ...

Wiley2022

Genomic and metabolic adaptations of biofilms to ecological windows of opportunity in glacier-fed streams

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Paraskevi Pramateftaki

In glacier-fed streams, ecological windows of opportunity allow complex microbial biofilms to develop and transiently form the basis of the food web, thereby controlling key ecosystem processes. Using metagenome-assembled genomes, we unravel strategies tha ...

Springer2022