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bioRxiv2023

Onsager's relations and Ecology

There are two complementary approaches to thermodynamics, one is an empirical, phenomenological representation of macroscopic states and the second is a model-based, statistical-mechanical representation of microscopic states. If only a few energy transformation steps are involved, macroscopic quantities such as energy and entropy can be estimated without ambiguity, and often the associated microscopic states are well characterised. Both approaches have been used to develop and guide many key early ecological ideas. However, most ecosystems are characterized by uncountably many transformations that operate on a wide range of space and time scales. This renders the bounds of such systems ambiguous making both the macroscopic and microscopic approaches a challenge. As such, the implementation of both approaches remain areas ripe for further investigation. In particular, the Onsager reciprocal relations permit simplification of expectations that are yet to be fully understood in an ecological context. Here we begin to take a few first steps in trying to understand the far-reaching ramifications of these thermodynamic relations.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

The unexpected consequences of predictor error in ecological model selection

1O_LIThe ability to select statistical models based on how well they fit an empirical dataset is a central tenet of modern bioscience. How well this works, though, depends on how goodness-of-fit is measured. Likelihood and its derivatives (e.g. AIC) are popular and powerful tools when measuring goodness-of-fit, though inherently make assumptions about the data. One such assumption is absence of error on the x-axis (i.e. no error in the predictor). This, however, is often not correct and deviations from this assumption are often hard (or impossible) to measure. C_LIO_LIHere, we show that, when predictor error is present, goodness-of-fit as perceived using likelihood will increase with decreases in sample size, effect size, predictor error and predictor variance. This results in predictors with increased effect size, predictor variance or predictor error being punished. As a consequence, we suggest that larger effect sizes are biased against in likelihood-based model comparison. Of note: (i) this problem is exacerbated in datasets with larger samples sizes and a broader range of predictor values - typically considered desirable biological data collection; and (ii) the magnitude of this effect is non-trivial given that proxy error (caused by using correlates of a predictor rather than the predictor itself) can lead to unexpectedly high amounts of error. C_LIO_LIWe investigate the effects of our findings in an empirical dataset of wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) first flowering date regressed against temperature. Our results show that the proxy error caused by using air temperature rather than ground temperature results in a {triangleup}AIC of around 3. We also demonstrate potential consequences for model selection procedures with autocorrelation (e.g. sliding window approaches). Via simulation we show that in the presence of predictor error AIC will favour autocorrelated, lower effect size predictors (such as those found on the edges of predictive windows), rather than the a priori specified true window. C_LIO_LIOur results suggest significant and far-reaching implications for biological inference with model selection for much of todays ecology using observational data under non-experimental conditions. We assert that no obvious, globally-applicable solution to this problem exists; and propose that quantifying predictor error is key in accurate ecological model selection going forward. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Spatial ecology and population dynamics of brown trout Salmo trutta L. in reservoirs and headwater tributaries

This investigation compared the spatial ecology and population dynamics of brown trout Salmo trutta L. between reservoirs with (impact; Langsett Reservoir) and without (control; Grimwith Reservoir) barriers to fish movements into afferent headwater tributaries, including the effectiveness of a fish pass to remediate connectivity. Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) telemetry revealed fish that emigrated from Langsett and Grimwith reservoirs were 1-3 and 0-2 years old, respectively, and predominantly did so in March-May and October-December in both. Weirs at Langsett Reservoir (emigration rate = 26%) appeared to thwart emigration relative to Grimwith Reservoir (emigration rate = 85%). Acoustic telemetry (2D positions) in the impact reservoir revealed the largest home range was in October - December (monthly K95 {+/-} S.D. up to 26.9 {+/-} 6.69 ha in November), activity was influenced by both month and time of day, and fish occupied shallow water depths (relative to reservoir depth), especially at night. Large proportions of brown trout tagged in Grimwith and Langsett reservoirs (42.9% and 64.1%, respectively) and fish that emigrated (37.2% and 27.7%, respectively) were detected moving upstream into tributaries. At both reservoirs, peak immigration for 3- and [≥]4-year-old fish occurred in October-December, although upstream movements occurred throughout the year and by all age classes. Three brown trout passed upstream of each of the weirs on River Little Don (prior to fish pass construction; 3% of those that approached from downstream) and Thickwoods Brook (throughout the study; 2%). Overall fish pass solution passage efficiency was 14% but was higher for 2- and 3-year-old fish (32%), which was comparable to fish translocated from upstream (33%). Passage predominantly occurred at lower river levels than fish pass entrance / attraction, which was also lower than during approaches to the weir. A Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) design found that although juvenile (0+, but not >0+) brown trout densities were lower after fish pass construction, the reduction was significantly less than at control sites, i.e., the fish pass had a positive effect. Overall, this investigation significantly furthers our understanding of brown trout spatial ecology and population dynamics in reservoirs and headwater tributaries.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Ecological histories determine the success of social exploitation

Ecological context often modifies biotic interactions, yet effects of ecological history are poorly understood. In experiments with the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, resource-level histories of genotypes interacting during cooperative multicellular development were found to strongly regulate social fitness. Yet how developmental spore production responded to variation in resource-level histories between interactants differed greatly between cooperators and cheaters; relative-fitness advantages gained by cheating after high-resource growth were generally reduced or absent if one or both parties experienced low-resource growth. Low-resource growth also eliminated facultative exploitation in some pairwise mixes of cooperation-proficient natural isolates that occurs when both strains have grown under resource abundance. Our results contrast with previous studies in which cooperator fitness correlated positively with resource level and suggest that resource-level variation may be important in regulating whether exploitation of cooperators occurs in a natural context.

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bioRxiv2023

Concerns on research history overview, distribution patterns, and potentially neglected ecological consequences of the invasive apple snail (Pomacea sp.): A review

Invasive species pose a threat to global ecosystems and biodiversity, with the apple snail standing out as one kind of the worst invasive species due to its exclusive expansion. In order to draw a conceptual framework of its invasion pattern from an overview, we endeavor to conduct a bibliometric analysis and systematic review to explore the existing knowledge on research history and subjective categorization of Pomacea canaliculata and P. maculata, and to uncover emerging trends of distribution and possible neglected impact on food webs. The research history reveals that the first international research publication was documented in 1958. However, a substantial increase in international publications occurred only after 2000. The adoption and effective implementation of a universally agreed upon management strategy may greatly enhance the progress of research on apple snail invasion. Notably, co-word analysis revealed that the content of each thematic cluster has a shift from basic biology to the monitoring of occurrences and environmental adaptation. Currently, the global distribution of apple snails has expanded to 39 countries primarily as a result of anthropogenic translocation. All infested countries, with the exception of Israel and Singapore, are major paddy rice producers. The northernmost distribution limit is Tyumen in Russia, while the southernmost limit is the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. Biological control has emerged as a prominent technology for the prevention of apple snail infestations, leading to the identification of 98 non-target enemy species as potential control agents. A taxonomic diversity analysis revealed that these species encompassed a wide range of phylogenetic classifications, including 6 Phyla, 12 Classes, 33 Orders, 55 Families, and 82 Genera. This observation suggests that there is a substantial pool of animals from diverse phylogenetic levels that can prey upon apple snails. Given the high population density and extensive distribution of apple snails, there is a pressing need for further research to explore their potential ecological ramifications. The current understanding of the upward ecological impacts of apple snails remains inadequate. These findings provide valuable insights for future research endeavors and contribute to the effective management of invasive apple snail populations.

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bioRxiv2024

Meta-metabolome ecology reveals that geochemistry and microbial functional potential are linked to organic matter development across seven rivers

Rivers receive substantial dissolved organic matter (DOM) input from the land and transport it to the ocean. As DOM travels through watersheds, it undergoes biotic and abiotic transformations that impact biogeochemical cycles and any subsequent CO2 release into the atmosphere. While recent research has increased our mechanistic knowledge of DOM composition within watersheds, DOM development across broad spatial distances and within divergent biomes is under investigated. Here, we combined DOM characterization, geochemical analyses, and shotgun metagenomics to analyze samples from seven rivers ranging from the U.S. Pacific Northwest to Berlin, Germany. Initial analyses revealed that many DOM properties were distinguished by river type (e.g., wastewater, headwater) and that geochemistry often explained variation across rivers. At a global scale, analyses rooted in meta-metabolome ecology indicated that DOM was structured overwhelmingly by deterministic selection. When controlling for scale, however, analyses indicated that ecological assembly dynamics were again partially structured by river type. Finally, microbial analyses revealed that many riverine microbes from our systems shared core metabolic functional potential while differing in peripheral capabilities in across the rivers. Further analysis of the carbon degradation potential for recovered metagenomically assembled genomes indicated that the sampled rivers had strong taxonomically conserved niche differentiation and that carbon degradation potential diversity was significantly related to organic matter diversity. Together, these results help us uncover interconnections between the development of DOM, riverine geochemistry, and microbial functional potential.

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bioRxiv2024

Time-series metagenomics reveals changing protistan ecology of a temperate dimictic lake

BackgroundProtists, single-celled eukaryotic organisms, are critical to food web ecology, contributing to primary productivity and connecting small bacteria and archaea to higher trophic levels. Lake Mendota is a large, eutrophic natural lake that is a Long-Term Ecological Research site and among the worlds best-studied freshwater systems. Metagenomic samples have been collected and shotgun sequenced from Lake Mendota for the last twenty years. Here, we analyze this comprehensive time series to infer changes to the structure and function of the protistan community, and to hypothesize about their interactions with bacteria. ResultsBased on small subunit rRNA genes extracted from the metagenomes and metagenome-assembled genomes of microeukaryotes, we identify shifts in the eukaryotic phytoplankton community over time, which we predict to be a consequence of reduced zooplankton grazing pressures after the invasion of a invasive predator (the spiny water flea) to the lake. The metagenomic data also reveal the presence of the spiny water flea and the zebra mussel, a second invasive species to Lake Mendota, prior to their visual identification during routine monitoring. Further, we use species co-occurrence and co-abundance analysis to connect the protistan community with bacterial taxa. Correlation analysis suggests that protists and bacteria may interact or respond similarly to environmental conditions. Cryptophytes declined in the second decade of the timeseries, while many alveolate groups (e.g. ciliates and dinoflagellates) and diatoms increased in abundance, changes that have implications for food web efficiency in Lake Mendota. ConclusionsWe demonstrate that metagenomic sequence-based community analysis can complement existing eorts to monitor protists in Lake Mendota based on microscopy-based count surveys. We observed patterns of seasonal abundance in microeukaryotes in Lake Mendota that corroborated expectations from other systems, including high abundance of cryptophytes in winter and diatoms in fall and spring, but with much higher resolution than previous surveys. Our study identified long-term changes in the abundance of eukaryotic microbes, and provided context for the known establishment of an invasive species that catalyzes a trophic cascade involving protists. Our findings are important for decoding potential long-term consequences of human interventions, including invasive species introduction.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Distribution, ecology, and natural history of the recently rediscovered and critically endangered Santa Marta Sabrewing

The Santa Marta Sabrewing is a critically endangered (CR) hummingbird endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Prior to 2022, there were only three documented sightings of the sabrewing since it was described in 1879, including only one record between 1946 and 2022. As a result, this "lost" species has long been one of the most poorly-known birds in Colombia. We located a resident population of Santa Marta Sabrewing along the Guatapuri River near the Chemesquemena and Guatapuri villages in July 2022, and at its type locality, San Jose, in January 2023. Based on historical data and newly-collected field observations, we assess the species status and describe aspects of its natural history and ecology. Our review indicates the species has been frequently misidentified in the past, and that to date, documented evidence of its presence is limited to five localities, almost all of them restricted to the south-eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, along the mid Guatapuri river basin. Consequently, this bird appears to represent a case of microendemism. Following IUCN criteria, our data suggest that Santa Marta Sabrewing should remain listed as CR. Field observations indicate that the species is highly associated with watercourses, where males hold year-round territories and form leks. We obtained records of males in mid-elevation habitats (1,150-1,850 m) for 16 consecutive months between July 2022 and October 2023, suggesting that the species might not be an elevational migrant, as previously speculated. More information is needed to understand the species ecology so that effective conservation actions can be designed in collaboration with the indigenous communities with which the species coexists.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Diversity and ecological potentials of viral assemblages from the seamount sediments of the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Viruses are the most abundant life forms in the sea, influencing the community structure and metabolism of host cells as well as biogeochemical cycles. However, the diversity and ecological roles of viruses within seamount ecosystems, natural microbiota havens characterized by high biodiversity, remain unknown. Here, the first seamount viral genome (SMVG) dataset, based on a metagenomic analysis of twelve seamount sediment samples collected from the seamount regions of the Northwest Pacific Ocean, is established. A total of 78,069 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were found, spanning 18 viral classes and 63 viral families. The detection of sixteen viral auxiliary metabolic genes (vAMGs) suggests that viruses may participate in both the complex metabolic dynamics associated with sediment microbial communities and also biogeochemical cycles, including carbon, sulfur, metal, heme, and cobalamin cycling. vAMGs involved in the metabolism of heme, cobalamin and metals, in particular, are more often detected in seamount sediments than in trenches, cool seeps, and hydrothermal vents. This investigation of the viral communities in these seamount sediments provides new insights into the high diversity and ecological potential of the viruses and establishes a foundation for the future study of benthic viruses from deep-sea seamounts.

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bioRxiv2024

Insect abundance and richness response to ecological reclamation on well pads 5-12 years into succession in a semi-arid natural gas field

Natural gas extraction is a critical driver of the economy in western North America. Ecological reclamation is important to ensure surface disturbance impacts associated with natural gas development are not permanent and to assist native biota. Previous studies in semi-arid natural gas fields within Sublette County, Wyoming, USA have shown insects respond favorably to 1-3-year-old well pads undergoing reclamation compared to older successional, reference vegetation communities dominated by Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridenta spp. Wyomingensis). Here we examined well pads which were initially seeded between 5, 8, 10, 11, and 12 prior to our study. We used a free, image-based software called SamplePoint to quantify vegetation on these well pads and adjacent reference areas from high-resolution cell phone camera pictures. Insects were collected with a sweep net and identified to the family and morphospecies level. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare both vegetation and insect communities between reclamation sites and their paired reference area. We found little statistical difference between vegetation communities across our study, but found significantly more insect abundance in 3 of 5 years and significantly higher family and species richness in 4 of 5 years. Our results suggest reclamation of natural gas well pads within an old successional stand of sagebrush continues to support higher levels of insect biodiversity and abundance for at least 12 years. As insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth and because they provide a wide array of ecosystem services, our findings suggest ecological reclamation plays an important role in returning biodiversity and ecosystem functionality to a semi-arid and old successional sagebrush-steppe ecosystem.

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bioRxiv2024

The what, how and why of trait-based analyses in ecology

Functional diversity is increasingly used alongside taxonomic diversity to describe populations and communities in ecology. Indeed, functional diversity metrics allow researchers to summarize complex occupancy patterns in space and/or time (what is changing?) that lead to changes in communities and/or populations (the process; how is it changing?) in response to some stressors (the mechanism; why is it changing?). However, as the diversity of functional diversity metrics and methods increases, it is often not directly clear which metric is more readily appropriate for which question. We studied the ability of different functional diversity metrics to recover patterns and signals from different processes linked to common assembly mechanisms (environmental filtering, competitive exclusion, equalizing fitness, and facilitation) in community ecology. Using both simulated data and an empirical dataset affected by more complex and nuanced mechanisms, we tested the effectiveness of different space occupancy metrics to recover the simulated or empirical changes. We show that different metrics perform better for different tasks, emphasizing the importance of not using a one-size-fits-all metric. Instead, researchers should carefully consider and test whether a particular metric will be effective in capturing a pattern of interest.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Emergent ecological advantage of sequential metabolic strategies in complex microbial communities

Microbes growing in fluctuating environments employ two key metabolic strategies: sequential (diauxic) utilization and co-utilization of nutrients. Most work has focused on understanding and comparing these strategies physiologically for the growth of single species, rather than ecologically for the assembly of complex natural communities. This is in part because of the lack of good metrics quantifying the fitness of different metabolic strategies in ecological contexts. Here, we present a new consumer-resource framework that incorporates dynamic proteome reallocation, and use it to compare the fitness of metabolic strategies during community assembly. We introduce two notions of fitness of a strategy in fluctuating environments: the time-averaged growth rate and the biomass-weighted prevalence of microbes using a given strategy. We find that sequential utilizers, although disadvantaged in pairwise competitions, gain a significant edge during community assembly -- an advantage that becomes more pronounced with increasing community diversity and the size of the species pool from which they are assembled. Low diversity communities resemble pairwise competitions and are dominated by co-utilizers, whereas high diversity, mature communities are dominated by the sequential utilizers. This shift is driven by two factors: the difference in lag times and the increased structural stability conferred by sequential strategies. Overall, our work provides several testable predictions about the co-occurrence patterns of microbes using different metabolic strategies.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Ecological factors alter how spatial overlap predicts viral infection dynamics in wild rodent populations

Spatial overlap between animals in wildlife populations can have important implications for pathogen transmission. Ecological factors and animal demographic traits can influence animal space use and spatial overlap, but it is unclear how these interactions drive pathogen transmission. We experimentally manipulated wild bank vole populations via resource supplementation and anthelmintic treatment. Using network analysis, we investigated the relationship between spatial overlap and infection likelihood of an endemic zoonotic hantavirus, including how vole sex and reproductive status interact with spatial behaviour to affect infection likelihood. Spatial overlap in a previous month drove the likelihood of current hantavirus infection, and food supplementation and anthelmintic treatment altered the effects of spatial overlap on infection likelihood. Vole sex and reproductive status were important factors determining whether spatial overlap increased or decreased the likelihood of hantavirus infection and interacted with resource supplementation and anthelmintic treatment, generating different infection dynamics in each treatment. Our research provides rare empirical evidence linking previous spatial overlap to current infection status in wildlife populations, with implications for understanding disease dynamics and persistence as well as developing effective management efforts. We further highlight the importance of incorporating variation in ecological factors and host demography when studying pathogen transmission in wildlife systems.

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bioRxiv2024

Robust coexistence in ecological competitive communities

Darwin already recognized that competition is fiercest among conspecifics, a principle that later made intraspecific competition central to ecological theory through concepts such as niche differentiation and limiting similarity. Beyond shaping coexistence, strong intraspecific competition can also stabilize community dynamics by ensuring that populations return to equilibrium after disturbance. Here we investigate a more fundamental question: how intraspecific competition influences the very existence of a steady state (feasibility) in large random ecological communities dominated by competition. We show that, analogous to classical results on stability, there is a critical level of intraspecific competition above which a feasible steady state is guaranteed to exist. We derive a general expression for the probability of feasibility and prove that, asymptotically (as species number grows), the transition to stability occurs before the transition to feasibility with probability one. Thus, in large competitive communities, any feasible equilibrium is automatically stable. This ordering persists even when many species in the initial pool cannot coexist and extinctions occur: the dynamics prune the community, shifting feasibility and stability thresholds but never reversing their order. These results imply that large competitive communities generically converge to a globally stable equilibrium, making sustained oscillations or chaos unlikely--consistent with experimental observations.

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bioRxiv2024

Ecology and environment predict spatially stratified risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds across Europe

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) represents a threat to animal and human health, with the ongoing H5N1 outbreak within the H5 2.3.4.4b clade being the largest on record. However, it remains unclear what factors have contributed to its intercontinental spread. We use Bayesian additive regression trees, a machine learning method designed for probabilistic modelling of complex nonlinear phenomena, to construct species distribution models (SDMs) for HPAI clade 2.3.4.4b presence. We identify factors driving geospatial patterns of infection and project risk distributions across Europe. Our models are time-stratified to capture both seasonal changes in risk and shifts in epidemiology associated with the succession of H5N6/H5N8 by H5N1 within the clade. While previous studies aimed to model HPAI presence from physical geography, we explicitly consider wild bird ecology by including estimates of bird species richness, abundance of specific taxa, and "abundance indices" describing total abundance of birds with high-risk behavioural traits. Our projections of HPAI clade 2.3.4.4b indicate a shift in persistent, year-round risk towards cold, low-lying regions of northwest Europe associated with H5N1. Methodologically, we demonstrate that while most variation in risk can be explained by climate and physical geography, adding host ecology is a valuable refinement to SDMs of HPAI.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

MicroEcoTools: an R package for comprehensive theoretical microbial ecology analysis

BackgroundEcological theory aids in understanding how disturbances affect ecosystems. However, experimental data are often complex, with multiple post-disturbance theories potentially applying simultaneously to the same ecosystem. This emphasizes the need for tools to experimentally test these theoretical predictions. ResultsWe introduce MicroEcoTools, an R package designed to test ecological framework predictions using microbial community data. It assesses microbial diversity and evaluates the relative impacts of stochastic and deterministic assembly mechanisms through a taxa-based null model approach for replicated designs. Specifically, the package allows application of Grimes trait-based life-history categories--competitor, stress-tolerant, and ruderal (CSR)-- to taxa, functional traits, and ecosystem functions within microbial communities. MicroEcoTools also includes relevant statistical tests, numeric simulations, and publicly available datasets for demonstration. ConclusionsIn conclusion, MicroEcoTools facilitates the application of ecological frameworks, including community assembly mechanisms, diversity analysis, and life-history strategies, to microbial ecosystems under disturbance. This R package, along with its source code, can be freely accessed on GitHub at https://www.github.com/Soheil-A-Neshat/MicroEcoTools.

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bioRxiv2024

Reliability of canopy photography for forest ecology and biodiversity studies

Understory is a key component of forest biodiversity. The structure of the forest stand and the horizontal composition of the canopy play a major role on the light regime of the understory, which in turn affects the abundance and the diversity of the understory plant community. Reliable assessments of canopy structural attributes are essential for forest research and biodiversity monitoring programs, as well as to study the relationship between canopy and understory plant communities. Canopy photography is a widely used method but it is still not clear which photographic techniques is better suited to capture canopy attributes at stand-level that can be relevant in forest biodiversity studies. For this purpose, we collected canopy structure and understory plant diversity data on 51 forest sites in the north-eastern Italian Alps, encompassing a diversity of forest types. Canopy images were acquired using both digital cover (DCP) and hemispherical (DHP) photography. Canopy structural attributes were then compared to tree species composition data to evaluate whether they were appropriate to differentiate between forest types. Additionally, we tested what canopy attributes derived from DCP and DHP best explained the species composition of vascular plants growing in the understory. We found that hemispherical canopy photography was most suitable to capture differences in forest types, which was best expressed by variables such as leaf inclination angle and canopy openness. On our sites, DHP-based canopy attributes were also able to better distinguish between different conifer forests. Leaf clumping was the most important attribute for determining plant species distribution of the understory, indicating that diverse gap structures create different microclimate conditions enhancing diverse plant species with different ecological strategies. This study supports the reliability of canopy photography in forest ecology and biodiversity monitoring, but also provide insights for increasing understory diversity in managed forests of high conservation value. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=100 SRC="FIGDIR/small/610276v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (49K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@15b706forg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@329571org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f13605org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11b816_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

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bioRxiv2024

Diversity and ecological roles of RNA viral communities in the cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau

RNA viruses play crucial roles in modulating host communities, but their diversity and ecological roles in the cryosphere are poorly understood. We investigated the RNA virome from the cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau (TPC), the largest area of the cryosphere in the mid-low latitude regions, which includes 79 metatranscriptomes from ecosystems including glaciers, proglacial lake sediments, permafrost wetland and upland soils. We obtained 8,799 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase encoding contigs, which clustered into 5,333 viral species, adding more than 4,900 new RNA viral species to the global RNA virome database. The recovered RNA viruses primarily infect prokaryotes, distinctively different from the dominance of eukaryotic RNA viruses in oceanic ecosystems. In addition to the known taxa such as Leviviricetes, we identified novel clades of putative prokaryotic RNA viruses, which greatly extended our understanding of their diversity. We further expanded the host of RNA virus by 20 additional prokaryotic phylum- or class-level taxonomic groups. Moreover, the TPC RNA viruses encoded dozens of auxiliary metabolic genes that could reprogram the metabolisms of diverse hosts, including photosynthesis in glacier eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria, which may exert great impacts on glacier dynamics through modulating host adaptation. Furthermore, we identified potential pathogenic RNA viruses in various cryosphere environments, though their overall risks are low. This study provides the first comprehensive view of cryosphere RNA virome, highlighting their high diversity, vital ecological functions, and potential health impacts.

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