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Impacts of deglaciation on biodiversity and ecosystem function

Nature Reviews Biodiversity volume 1, pages 371–385 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glaciers and glacially influenced ecosystems host unique biodiversity spanning all kingdoms of life, but glaciers are retreating as the global climate warms, threatening specialist species, ecosystem functions and stability. We outline the impacts and consequences of glacier retreat, identifying key drivers and mechanisms of change, focusing on biodiversity and interactions among glacier, terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. We identify global glacial biodiversity patterns and local nuances, highlighting taxa that are likely to thrive or decline with the loss of glaciers. Following glacier retreat, the availability and size of ice-free areas initially increase, leading to a ‘biodiversity peak’. However, as glaciers disappear, the formation of novel habitats decreases while communities become more homogeneous and competition increases, leading to local-to-regional biodiversity decline. Glacier loss influences multiple ecosystem functions that contribute to climate regulation, freshwater resources, carbon and nutrient cycling, soil development, primary productivity and food-web stability. Key challenges in glacier ecosystem science include improving our knowledge of the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functions and quantifying species interactions at local-to-global scales to improve mechanistic understanding. Such advances will enhance predictions of how biodiversity will change with the loss of glaciers, enabling informed and effective conservation and management.

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Fig. 1: The various habitats comprising glacial landscapes.
Fig. 2: Mechanisms underlying biodiversity changes in response to glacier retreat.
Fig. 3: Winners and losers of deglaciation.
Fig. 4: Glacier retreat alters biodiversity and affects ecosystem functions.

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Acknowledgements

G.L. received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P3_202127) and the Italian Ministry of University and Research (P2022N5KYJ). J.R.L. received funding from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. C.I.F. received funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand (RDF-UOO1803). K.Z. received funding from the Biodiversa+ European Biodiversity Partnership programme (National Science Centre 2022/04/Y/NZ8/00092). T.L.H. received funding from the National Science Foundation (2113784). O.-S.K. received funding from the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI; PE24130). D.L. received funding from the Lithuanian Research Council (‘Snowlife’ project S-MIP-23-25). S.A.R. received funding from the Special Research Initiative in Excellence in Antarctic Science (SRIEAS) (SR200100005) and from the Australian Research Council SRIEAS (SR200100005) and Discovery Project (DP200100223). L.E.B. received funding from the Royal Geographical Society Ralph Brown Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Gianalberto Losapio

  2. Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Gianalberto Losapio

  3. British Antarctic Survey, NERC, Cambridge, UK

    Jasmine R. Lee

  4. Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Jasmine R. Lee

  5. Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Ceridwen I. Fraser

  6. Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway

    Mark A. K. Gillespie

  7. School of Geography & water@leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Nicky R. Kerr & Lee E. Brown

  8. Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    Krzysztof Zawierucha

  9. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology & the BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA

    Trinity L. Hamilton

  10. Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Scott Hotaling

  11. Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Rüdiger Kaufmann

  12. Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Republic of Korea

    Ok-Sun Kim

  13. Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Christian Klopsch

  14. Center for the Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Yongqin Liu

  15. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yongqin Liu

  16. Marine Research Institute, Klaipeda University, Klaipeda, Lithuania

    Dzmitry Lukashanets

  17. Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    Sharon A. Robinson

  18. Environmental Futures, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    Sharon A. Robinson

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  1. Gianalberto Losapio
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  2. Jasmine R. Lee
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Contributions

G.L. conceived the article and wrote the first manuscript draft. All authors contributed to literature research and provided a substantial contribution to the discussion of content and writing.

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Correspondence to Gianalberto Losapio.

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Glossary

α-Diversity

Mean species richness in a site (local diversity).

β-Diversity

Ratio between regional and local species diversity, indicating heterogeneity or species dissimilarity between sites.

γ-Diversity

Total species diversity in a landscape (regional diversity or species pool).

Albedo

The fraction of incident sunlight that is reflected by a given surface.

Allochthonous

Introduced from a different (distant) location.

Autochthonous

Originating or formed in its present location.

Benthic

Describes the zone on the bottom of an aquatic body (for example, a river, lake or ocean).

Biofilm

A thin layer that covers surfaces, consisting of bacteria and other microorganisms.

Biogeomorphic feedback

The interplay of geomorphic disturbances and their feedback with vegetation and microbial succession, which results in gradual ground stabilization from plant scale to slope scale.

Biotic homogenization

The process by which (spatially) distinct ecological communities become increasingly similar over time.

Crevasse

Fissure or crack in the surface of a glacier.

Cryoconite

A mixture of mineral and organic material accumulated on the glacier surface. Cryoconite is a darker colour than the surrounding ice and has higher heat absorption, and therefore the ice often melts to form cryoconite holes.

Cryptogamic soil crust

An intimate association between soil particles and variable proportions of photoautotrophic and heterotrophic organisms, living within or immediately on top of the soil surface in a coherent layer.

Ecological niche

Set of environmental conditions required by an organism or the functions it performs, encompassing all environmental factors influencing the establishment, growth and reproduction of a species.

Englacial

Describes the zone within a glacier situated between the supraglacial and subglacial zones that harbours meltwater streams or caverns.

Firn field

Layer of snow that is transforming into glacial ice.

Functional diversity

The value, range, relative abundance or variation of functional traits.

Glacier foreland

The young ice-free terrain around and in front of a glacier that has deglaciated since the end of the Little Ice Age (the cold period that terminated around 1850).

Glacier mice

Supraglacial, unattached balls of moss (taxonomically nonspecific) and sediment that harbour invertebrate fauna and can move along the surface of the glacier.

Interaction diversity

The number and type of biotic interactions that link species together into communities.

Moulin

Vertical shaft that carries meltwater from glacier surface to the bedrock under glacial ice.

Paraglacial adjustment

(Geomorphological) responses in slopes in glacially steepened rockwalls to alteration of stress within the rock owing to deglaciation (often associated with rock-slope failures).

Pelagic

Describes the zone near the water surface or within the water column in an aquatic body.

Periphyton

A microorganism assemblage dominated by microalgae and including heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria and fungi that grow on the surface of submerged sediments, rocks, plants and suspended particles in aquatic ecosystems.

Proglacial

Describes the zone in front of an active glacier, which is subject to frequent changes owing to meltwater dynamics and movement of unconsolidated sediment.

Redox potential

The oxidation (loss of electrons) or reduction (acquisition of electrons) potential is a key physicochemical parameter driving microbial activity.

Subglacial

Describes the zone below a glacier in the liquid interface between glacier, sediment and bedrock.

Subglacial legacy

Subglacial sediments and organic-matter substrates originating from past biogeochemical processes. The subglacial legacy has been reworked by subglacial microbial communities and is exposed at receding glacier fronts.

Supraglacial

Describes the zone on the glacier surface, encompassing fresh snow, firn, pure ice, meltwater streams, ice caves and crevasses.

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Losapio, G., Lee, J.R., Fraser, C.I. et al. Impacts of deglaciation on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Nat. Rev. Biodivers. 1, 371–385 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-025-00049-6

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