“…Other abiotic factors influencing the ecological functionality of new ice-free habitats are the properties of newly exposed soils, including pH, salinity, and levels of organic matter and nutrients, which will determine initial habitat suitability for vegetation, microfauna, and microbes (Barrett et al, 2006;Courtright et al, 2001;Dragone et al, 2022;Smykla et al, 2018). Multiple environmental and geographical factors determine these soil properties, including elevation, temperature, age of the soil, distance to coast, distance to the nearest vertebrate colony, and geological-, glacial-, and sealevel history (Adamson & Pickard, 1986;Diaz et al, 2021;Dragone et al, 2022;Franco et al, 2021;Smykla et al, 2007). Because many Antarctic soils are nutrient poor, breeding seabird colonies have a large influence on terrestrial communities around coastal Antarctica, where nitrogen-rich guano provides essential nutrients for biodiversity (Bokhorst et al, 2019;Casanovas et al, 2015;Smykla et al, 2007Smykla et al, , 2015.…”