Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands
In an era of rapid climate change and expansion of desertification, the extremely harsh conditions of drylands are a true challenge for microbial life. Under drought conditions, where most life forms cannot survive, rocks represent the main refuge for life. Indeed, the endolithic habitat provides th...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt1sj5s6vz 2023-10-01T03:52:07+02:00 Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands Coleine, Claudia Stajich, Jason E de los Ríos, Asunción Selbmann, Laura 108 - 133 2021-01-02 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sj5s6vz unknown eScholarship, University of California qt1sj5s6vz https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sj5s6vz CC-BY-NC Mycologia, vol 113, iss 1 Life on Land Adaptation Physiological Antarctic Regions Biodiversity Climate Change Desert Climate Droughts Extreme Environments Fungi Geologic Sediments Lichens Antarctica dry limits of life drylands endolithic communities rocks Evolutionary Biology Microbiology Plant Biology Mycology & Parasitology article 2021 ftcdlib 2023-09-04T18:04:19Z In an era of rapid climate change and expansion of desertification, the extremely harsh conditions of drylands are a true challenge for microbial life. Under drought conditions, where most life forms cannot survive, rocks represent the main refuge for life. Indeed, the endolithic habitat provides thermal buffering, physical stability, and protection against incident ultraviolet (UV) radiation and solar radiation and, to some extent, ensures water retention to microorganisms. The study of these highly specialized extreme-tolerant and extremophiles may provide tools for understanding microbial interactions and processes that allow them to keep their metabolic machinery active under conditions of dryness and oligotrophy that are typically incompatible with active life, up to the dry limits for life. Despite lithobiontic communities being studied all over the world, a comprehensive understanding of their ecology, evolution, and adaptation is still nascent. Herein, we survey the fungal component of these microbial ecosystems. We first provide an overview of the main defined groups (i.e., lichen-forming fungi, black fungi, and yeasts) of the most known and studied Antarctic endolithic communities that are almost the only life forms ensuring ecosystem functionality in the ice-free areas of the continent. For each group, we discuss their main traits and their diversity. Then, we focus on the fungal taxonomy and ecology of other worldwide endolithic communities. Finally, we highlight the utmost importance of a global rock survey in order to have a comprehensive view of the diversity, distribution, and functionality of these fungi in drylands, to obtain tools in desert area management, and as early alarm systems to climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica University of California: eScholarship Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Life on Land Adaptation Physiological Antarctic Regions Biodiversity Climate Change Desert Climate Droughts Extreme Environments Fungi Geologic Sediments Lichens Antarctica dry limits of life drylands endolithic communities rocks Evolutionary Biology Microbiology Plant Biology Mycology & Parasitology |
spellingShingle |
Life on Land Adaptation Physiological Antarctic Regions Biodiversity Climate Change Desert Climate Droughts Extreme Environments Fungi Geologic Sediments Lichens Antarctica dry limits of life drylands endolithic communities rocks Evolutionary Biology Microbiology Plant Biology Mycology & Parasitology Coleine, Claudia Stajich, Jason E de los Ríos, Asunción Selbmann, Laura Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
topic_facet |
Life on Land Adaptation Physiological Antarctic Regions Biodiversity Climate Change Desert Climate Droughts Extreme Environments Fungi Geologic Sediments Lichens Antarctica dry limits of life drylands endolithic communities rocks Evolutionary Biology Microbiology Plant Biology Mycology & Parasitology |
description |
In an era of rapid climate change and expansion of desertification, the extremely harsh conditions of drylands are a true challenge for microbial life. Under drought conditions, where most life forms cannot survive, rocks represent the main refuge for life. Indeed, the endolithic habitat provides thermal buffering, physical stability, and protection against incident ultraviolet (UV) radiation and solar radiation and, to some extent, ensures water retention to microorganisms. The study of these highly specialized extreme-tolerant and extremophiles may provide tools for understanding microbial interactions and processes that allow them to keep their metabolic machinery active under conditions of dryness and oligotrophy that are typically incompatible with active life, up to the dry limits for life. Despite lithobiontic communities being studied all over the world, a comprehensive understanding of their ecology, evolution, and adaptation is still nascent. Herein, we survey the fungal component of these microbial ecosystems. We first provide an overview of the main defined groups (i.e., lichen-forming fungi, black fungi, and yeasts) of the most known and studied Antarctic endolithic communities that are almost the only life forms ensuring ecosystem functionality in the ice-free areas of the continent. For each group, we discuss their main traits and their diversity. Then, we focus on the fungal taxonomy and ecology of other worldwide endolithic communities. Finally, we highlight the utmost importance of a global rock survey in order to have a comprehensive view of the diversity, distribution, and functionality of these fungi in drylands, to obtain tools in desert area management, and as early alarm systems to climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Coleine, Claudia Stajich, Jason E de los Ríos, Asunción Selbmann, Laura |
author_facet |
Coleine, Claudia Stajich, Jason E de los Ríos, Asunción Selbmann, Laura |
author_sort |
Coleine, Claudia |
title |
Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
title_short |
Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
title_full |
Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
title_fullStr |
Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Beyond the extremes: Rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
title_sort |
beyond the extremes: rocks as ultimate refuge for fungi in drylands |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sj5s6vz |
op_coverage |
108 - 133 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
Mycologia, vol 113, iss 1 |
op_relation |
qt1sj5s6vz https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sj5s6vz |
op_rights |
CC-BY-NC |
_version_ |
1778517712821026816 |