Alpine and Arctic Soil Microbial Communities
Cold environments, where average daily air temperatures are below 5 °C throughout the year, are widespread in the terrestrial biosphere (Zakhia et al. 2008). These ecosystems are common in high mountain ranges, the high Arctic and Antarctica. In these are
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Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Site Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 High Alpine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Antarctica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 The Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Microbial Biomass and Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Microbial Diversity of Cold Desert Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Alpine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Antarctica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Biogeography and Limiting Factors for Cold Desert Prokaryotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Biogeography and Limiting Factors for Cyanobacteria . . 48 Biogeography and Limiting Factors for Actinobacteria . . 49 Archaea in Cold Deserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Oases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Dead Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Hypoliths and Cryptoendoliths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Fumaroles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Introduction Cold environments, where average daily air temperatures are below 5 C throughout the year, are widespread in the terrestrial biosphere (Zakhia et al. 2008). These ecosystems are common in high mountain ranges, the high Arctic and Antarctica. In these areas, cold temperatures are often accompanied by freeze-thaw cycles, seasonally high solar radiation exposure, low nutrient supply, limited water availability, and high salinity. As a result of these conditions, such environments are mostly devoid of higher plants and are instead dominated by microbial communities. These areas have been referred to as the subnival zone, cold deserts, the allobiosphere, or the aeolian zone among other names (Bahl et al. 2011; Edwards 1988; King et al. 2008; Mayilraj et al. 2005; Swan 1992). Due to the absence of plants and large animals, comprehensive studies of the diversity of these ecosystems have been limited. However, recent advances in molecular
techniques have allowed for more extensive study of the microorganisms that are abundant in these seemingly barren areas. High moun
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