Comparative activity and functional ecology of permafrost soils and lithic niches in a hyper‐arid polar desert

• Published in: Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Goordial, Jacqueline, Davila, Alfonso, Greer, Charles W., Cannam, Rebecca, DiRuggiero, Jocelyne, McKay, Christopher P., Whyte, Lyle G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Antarctic; McMurdo Dry Valleys; University Valley; Antarc*; Antarctica; permafrost; polar desert
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13353; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1462-2920.13353; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.13353/fullpdf

Summary Permafrost in the high elevation McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica ranks among the driest and coldest on Earth. Permafrost soils appear to be largely inhospitable to active microbial life, but sandstone lithic microhabitats contain a trophically simple but functional cryptoendolithic communi...