Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The lithic microbial ecosystems of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys

The lithic microbial ecosystems of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys Abstract We review the lithic microbial ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys as the main form of terrestrial colonization in this region, and assess the role of environmental controls such as temperature, solar radiation, water availability, wind, nutrient availability, salinity and the physicochemical properties of the colonized rock. Epilithic communities, especially those dominated by lichens, are able to withstand extreme environmental conditions but subsurface endolithic microhabitats provide more tolerant conditions. Endolithic microbial communities can be grouped into two main classes: eukaryotic communities (dominated by lichenized fungi and algae) and prokaryotic communities (dominated by cyanobacteria). Heterotrophic bacteria and non-lichenized algae and fungi (mainly black fungi) are also components of these communities. These lithobiontic microorganisms generally have effective mechanisms against freezing temperatures and desiccation. Extracellular polymeric substances play an important role not only in protecting microbial cells but also in community organization and in mitigating microenvironmental conditions. Antarctic lithobiontic communities are comprised of microbial consortia within which multiple interactions between the different biological and abiotic components are essential for microbial survival, whilst fossils and biomarkers provide evidence of earlier successful microbial life in Antarctic deserts. Finally, the uniqueness of the present lithobiont assemblages suggests they are the outcome of geographical isolation during the evolution of the continent and not merely the descendants of a subset of globally distributed taxa that have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Antarctic Science Cambridge University Press

The lithic microbial ecosystems of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys

Antarctic Science , Volume 26 (5): 19 – Jul 7, 2014
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/cambridge-university-press/the-lithic-microbial-ecosystems-of-antarctica-s-mcmurdo-dry-valleys-q0HA0WvAxD
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2014 
ISSN
1365-2079
eISSN
0954-1020
DOI
10.1017/S0954102014000194
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract We review the lithic microbial ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys as the main form of terrestrial colonization in this region, and assess the role of environmental controls such as temperature, solar radiation, water availability, wind, nutrient availability, salinity and the physicochemical properties of the colonized rock. Epilithic communities, especially those dominated by lichens, are able to withstand extreme environmental conditions but subsurface endolithic microhabitats provide more tolerant conditions. Endolithic microbial communities can be grouped into two main classes: eukaryotic communities (dominated by lichenized fungi and algae) and prokaryotic communities (dominated by cyanobacteria). Heterotrophic bacteria and non-lichenized algae and fungi (mainly black fungi) are also components of these communities. These lithobiontic microorganisms generally have effective mechanisms against freezing temperatures and desiccation. Extracellular polymeric substances play an important role not only in protecting microbial cells but also in community organization and in mitigating microenvironmental conditions. Antarctic lithobiontic communities are comprised of microbial consortia within which multiple interactions between the different biological and abiotic components are essential for microbial survival, whilst fossils and biomarkers provide evidence of earlier successful microbial life in Antarctic deserts. Finally, the uniqueness of the present lithobiont assemblages suggests they are the outcome of geographical isolation during the evolution of the continent and not merely the descendants of a subset of globally distributed taxa that have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions.

Journal

Antarctic Science – Cambridge University Press

Published: Jul 7, 2014

Keywords: endoliths; lichens; lithic microhabitat; lithobiontic microorganisms

References

  • Growth of crustose lichens: a review
  • The weathering action of saxicolous lichens in maritime Antarctica
  • New approaches to the study of Antarctic lithobiontic microorganisms and their inorganic traces, and their application in the detection of life in Martian rocks
  • The search for biomarkers and microbial fossils in Antarctic rock microhabitats
  • Nitrogen fixation in endolithic cyanobacterial communities of the McMurdo Dry Valley, Antarctica
  • Biological impact on mineral dissolution: application of the lichen model to understand mineral weathering in the rhizosphere
  • Biologically versus inorganically mediated weathering reactions: relationships between minerals and extracellular microbial polymers in lithobiontic communities
  • Experimental observations of the effects of bacteria on aluminiosilicate weathering
  • Photoinhibition of photosynthesis in Antarctic lichen Usnea antarctica. I. Light intensity- and light duration-dependent changes in functioning of photosystem II
  • Low temperature limitation of primary photosynthetic processes in Antarctic lichens Umbilicaria antarctica and Xanthoria elegans
  • Subcellular integrities in Chroococcidiopsis sp. CCMEE 029 survivors after prolonged desiccation revealed by molecular probes and genome stability assays
  • Cryptoendolithic alteration of Antarctic sandstones: pioneers or opportunists?
  • Terrestrial ecosystems: Antarctica
  • The ecology of chasmolithic algae at coastal locations of Antarctica
  • Dewfall as a water source frequently activates the endolithic cyanobacterial communities in the granites of Taylor Valley, Antarctica
  • Effects of increased solar ultraviolet radiation on terrestrial ecosystems
  • A critical revision of Antarctic lichens described by C.W. Dodge
  • Notes on the lichen genus Rhizoplaca from continental Antarctica and on some other species from northern Victoria Land
  • Hypolithic microbial communities: between a rock and a hard place
  • Functional ecology of an Antarctic dry valley
  • Biotic control over the functioning of ecosystems
  • Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity in a changing world
  • Antarctic biodiversity
  • Antarctic terrestrial life–challenging the history of the frozen continent?
  • Cryptic microbial communities in Antarctic deserts
  • Endangered Antarctic environments
  • Diverse hypolithic refuge communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys
  • Distribution and abiotic influences on hypolithic microbial communities in an Antarctic Dry Valley
  • Microbial biofilms: from ecology to molecular genetics
  • Microbial diversity of crytoendolithic commnunities from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
  • Microhabitats and chemical microenvironments under saxicolous lichens growing on granite
  • Ultrastructural and genetic characteristics of endolithic cyanobacterial biofilms colonizing Antarctic granite rocks
  • Acid microenvironments in microbial biofilms of Antarctic endolithic microecosystems
  • Exploring the physiological state of continental Antarctic endolithic microorganisms by microscopy
  • Endolithic growth of two Lecidea lichens in granite from continental Antarctica detected by molecular and microscopy techniques
  • Ecology of endolithic lichens colonizing granite in continental Antarctica
  • Hidden levels of phylodiversity in Antarctic green algae: further evidence for the existence of glacial refugia
  • Sediment properties influencing up-welling spectral reflectance signatures: the biofilm gel effect
  • Antarctic climatic cooling terrestrial ecosystem response
  • Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo dry valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000
  • Biological modification of haematite in Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities
  • Global dispersal of free-living microbial eukaryote species
  • Examination of Antarctic prokaryotic diversity through molecular comparisons
  • Microorganisms in Antarctic desert rocks from dry valleys and Dufek Massif
  • Melting snow in the dry valleys is a source of water for endolithic microorganisms
  • Endolithic microbial life in hot and cold desserts
  • Endolithic microorganisms in the Antarctic cold desert
  • The Antarctic cold desert and the search for traces of life on Mars
  • Endolithic blue-green algae in dry valleys: primary producers in the Antarctic desert ecosystem
  • The Antarctic cryptoendolithic ecosystem: relevance to exobiology
  • Cryptoendolithic lichen and cyanobacterial communities of the Ross Desert, Antarctica
  • The cryptoendolithic microbial environment in the Ross Desert of Antarctica: satellite-transmitted continuous nanoclimate data, 1984 to 1986
  • Microbial trace-fossil formation, biogenous and abiotic weathering in the Antarctic cold desert
  • Communities adjust their temperature optima by shifting producer-to-consumer ratio, shown in lichens as models: I. Hypothesis
  • The lithobiontic ecological niche, with special reference to microorganisms
  • High diversity of lichens at 84ºS, Queen Maud Mountains, suggests preglacial survival of species in the Ross Sea region, Antarctica
  • Extremely low lichen growth rates in Taylor Valley, Dry Valleys, continental Antarctica
  • Functional and spatial pressures on terrestrial vegetation in Antarctica forced by global warming
  • Effect of desiccation on envelopes of the cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. (Chroococcales)
  • Biotic and abiotic processes on granite weathering landforms in a cryotic environment, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica
  • Problems in monographing Antarctic crustose lichens
  • The limnology and biology of the Dufek Massif, Transantarctic Mountains 82° South
  • Isotopic evidence for the provenance and turnover of organic carbon by soil microorganisms in the Antarctic dry valleys
  • Solar UV-B radiation, associated with ozone depletion, inhibits the Antarctic terrestrial microalga
  • Solar UV-B radiation inhibits the growth of Antarctic terrestrial fungi
  • Photosynthetic carbon incorporation and turnover in Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial communities: are they the slowest-growing communities on earth?
  • Distribution of inorganic species in two Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial communities
  • Biogeochemistry of oxalate in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic lichen-dominated community
  • The diversity of lichens in Antarctica, a review and comments
  • Ecophysiology of lichens in the dry valleys of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. I. Microclimate of the cryptoendolithic lichen habitat
  • Photosynthesis and water relations of three maritine Antarctic lichen species
  • Chlorophyll a fluorescence and CO2 exchange of Umbilicaria aprina under extreme light stress in the cold
  • Hypolithic microbial communities of quartz rocks from Miers Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
  • Hypersaline conditions induce changes in cell-wall melanization and colony structure in a halophilic and a xerophilic black yeast species of the genus Trimmatostroma
  • Desiccation-tolerance in lichens: a review
  • Antioxidants and photoprotection in a lichen as compared with its isolated symbiotic partners
  • Der CO2-gasweshsel von Flechten bei tiefen temperaturen
  • Changes in biologically active ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth’s surface
  • Light attenuation by limestone rock and its constraint on the depth distribution of endolithic algae and cyanobacteria
  • The cryptoendolithic microbial environment in the Antarctic cold desert: temperature variations in nature
  • Calcium oxalate and medullary architecture in Xanthomaculina convoluta
  • Psychrophilic bacteria
  • Biogeography of terrestrial cyanobacteria from Antarctic ice-free areas
  • The cryptoendolithic microbial environment in the Ross Desert of Antarctica: light in the photosynthetically active region
  • Terrestrial lithophytic (rock) communities. In Friedmann, E.I
  • Studies on evaporite minerals from Dry Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica
  • Endolithic microbial communities in polar desert habitats
  • Inorganic species distribution and microbial diversity within high arctic cryptoendolithic habitats
  • Evolution and adaptation of fungi at boundaries of life
  • Fungal associations at the cold edge of life
  • Further additions to the lichen flora of Antarctica and South Georgia
  • Four additional lichens from the Antarctic and South Georgia, including a new Leciophysma species
  • Cyanobacteria in Antarctica: ecology, physiology and cold adaptation
  • Microorganisms in the atmosphere over Antarctica
  • Diversity and biogeography of the Antarctic flora
  • Lichen myco- and photobiont diversity and their relationships at the edge of life (McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica)
  • Highly specialized microbial diversity in hyper-arid polar desert
  • Microbial colonization and controls in dryland systems
  • Whole lichen thalli survive exposure to space conditions: results of lithopanspermia experiment with Aspicilia fruticulosa
  • Genetic diversity of algal and fungal partners in four species of Umbilicaria (lichenized Ascomycetes) along a transect of the Antarctic Peninsula
  • Survival strategies of bacteria in the natural environment
  • Phylogeny of rock-inhabiting fungi related to Dothideomycetes
  • Fungi in Antarctica
  • Genetic diversity of photobionts in Antarctic lecideoid lichens from an ecological viewpoint
  • Diversity of Lecidea (Lecideaceae, Ascomycota) species revealed by molecular data and morphological characters
  • Lichens survive in space: results from the 2005 LICHENS experiment
  • Microfossils of the early archean apex chert: new evidence of the antiquity of life
  • Carbon dioxide exchange at subzero temperatures: field measurements on Umbilicata aprina in Antarctica
  • Fourteen degrees of latitude and a continent apart: comparison of lichen activity over two years at continental and maritime Antarctic sites
  • Summer variability, winter dormancy: lichen activity over 3 years at Botany Bay, 77ºS latitude, continental Antarctica
  • Fungi at the edge of life: cryptoendolithic black fungi from Antarctic desert
  • Drought meets acid: three new genera in a dothidealean clade of extremotolerant fungi
  • Resistance to UV-B induced DNA damage in extreme-tolerant cryptoendolithic Antarctic fungi: detection by PCR assays
  • Lichen and moss communities of Botany Bay, Granite Harbour, Ross Sea, Antarctica
  • Genomic DNA of Nostoc commune (cyanobacteria) becomes covalently modified during long-term (decades) desiccation but is protected from oxidative damage and degradation
  • Characterization of 15 selected coccal bacteria isolated from Antarctic rock and soil samples from the McMurdo Dry Valleys (south Victoria Land)
  • Cryptoendolithic microorganisms from Antarctic sandstone of Linnaeus Terrace (Asgard range): diversity, properties and interactions
  • Antarctic terrestrial ecosystem and role of pigments in enhanced UV-B radiations
  • Fungi in hot and cold deserts with particular reference to microcolonial fungi
  • Growth on geological time scales in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial community
  • Crucial role of extracellular polysaccharides in desiccation and freezing tolerance in the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc Commune
  • Response of Antarctic soil fungal assemblages to experimental warming and reduction of UV radiation
  • Hemichloris antarctica gen. et sp. nov. (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyta) a cryptoendolithic alga from Antarctica
  • Biomass of the cryptoendolithic microbiota from the Antarctic desert
  • Raman spectroscopy of hot desert, high altitude epilithic lichens
  • Cold tolerance in cyanobacteria and life in the cryosphere.
  • Evidence for widespread endemism among Antarctic micro-organisms
  • Phylogenetic composition of Rocky Mountain endolithic microbial ecosystems
  • Exogenous carbonaceous microstructures in Early Archaean cherts and BIFs from the Isua Greenstone Belt: implications for the search for life in ancient rocks
  • Application of back-scattered electron imaging to the study of the lichen rock interface
  • Morphological and chemical features of bioweathered granitic biotite induced by lichen activity
  • Mineralogical transformation of bioweathered granitic biotite, studied by HRTEM: evidence for a new pathway in lichen activity
  • Life, decay and fossilisation of endolithic microorganisms from the Ross Desert, Antarctica
  • Microbial fossil record of rocks from the Ross Desert Antarctica: implications in the search for past life in Mars
  • Biomineralization of endolithic microbes in rocks from the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica: implications for microbial fossil formation and their detection
  • Iron-rich diagenetic minerals are biomarkers of microbial activity in Antarctic rocks
  • Viability of endolithic microorganisms in rocks from the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica established by confocal and fluorescence microscopy
  • Lichen fungi have low cyanobiont selectivity in maritime Antarctica
  • Size and structure of bacterial, fungal and nematode communities along an Antarctic environmental gradient