Publications by David Touchette

Experimental evidence on the impact of climate-induced hydrological and thermal variations on glacier-fed stream biofilms

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Nicola Deluigi, David Touchette, Martina Gonzalez Mateu

Climate change is predicted to alter the hydrological and thermal regimes of high-mountain streams, particularly glacier-fed streams. However, relatively little is known about how these environmental changes impact the microbial communities in glacier-fed ...

2025

Effects of marine diesel on microbial diversity and activity in high Arctic beach sediments

Ianina Altshuler, David Touchette

Global warming induced sea ice loss increases Arctic maritime traffic, enhancing the risk of ecosystem contamination from fuel spills and nutrient loading. The impact of marine diesel on bacterial metabolic activity and diversity, assessed by colorimetric ...

2023

Lichen-associated microbial members are prevalent in the snow microbiome of a sub-arctic alpine tundra

Ianina Altshuler, David Touchette

Snow is the largest component of the cryosphere, with its cover and distribution rapidly decreasing over the last decade due to climate warming. It is imperative to characterize the snow (nival) microbial communities to better understand the role of microo ...

2023

Microbial Characterization of Arctic Glacial Ice Cores with a Semiautomated Life Detection System

Ianina Altshuler, David Touchette

The search for extant microbial life will be a major focus of future astrobiology missions; however, no direct extant life detection instrumentation is included in current missions to Mars. In this study, we developed the semiautomated MicroLife detection ...

2023