Microbial ecology of Antarctic aquatic systems

• Published in: Nature Reviews Microbiology
• Main Author: Cavicchioli, R
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2015
• Subjects: 14 Life Below Water; Antarctic Regions; Climate Change; Ecosystem; Lakes; Metagenomics; Oceans and Seas; Sunlight; Temperature; Water Microbiology; anzsrc-for: 0605 Microbiology; anzsrc-for: 1108 Medical Microbiology; Antarc*; Antarctic; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_49930; https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/8ee931b5-e135-4c2e-9c58-bd5fd3e6a4f9/download; https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3549

The Earth’s biosphere is dominated by cold environments, and the cold biosphere is dominated by microorganisms. Microorganisms in cold Southern Ocean waters are recognized for having crucial roles in global biogeochemical cycles, including carbon sequestration, whereas microorganisms in other Antarctic aquatic biomes are not as well understood. In this Review, I consider what has been learned about Antarctic aquatic microbial ecology from ‘omic’ studies. I assess the factors that shape the biogeography of Antarctic microorganisms, reflect on some of the unusual biogeochemical cycles that they are associated with and discuss the important roles that viruses have in controlling ecosystem function