Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils contain unexpectedly high levels of microbial biomass

We have applied bioluminescent ATP detection methods to microbial enumeration in Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils, and validated our ATP data by two independent methods. We have demonstrated that ATP measurement is a valid means of determining microbial biomass in such sites, and that the desiccat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Extremophiles
Main Authors: Cowan, Donald A., Mamais, A., Russell, Nick A., Sheppard, Devon M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Verlag 2002
Subjects:
ATP measurement
Ornithogenic soils
Bioluminescence
Microbial biomass
Antarctic Dry Valleys
Antarctica
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10566/162
Description
Summary:We have applied bioluminescent ATP detection methods to microbial enumeration in Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils, and validated our ATP data by two independent methods. We have demonstrated that ATP measurement is a valid means of determining microbial biomass in such sites, and that the desiccated surface mineral soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys contain cell numbers over four orders of magnitude higher than previously suggested

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