High Bacterial Biodiversity Found in Arctic Tundra

Abstract

Jane Bradbury When it comes to soil bacteria, there may be more biodiversity in the arctic tundra than previously suspected. Microbial ecologists Josh Neufeld and William Mohn (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) have examined bacterial DNA sequences in multiple soil samples from three arctic tundra sites and three boreal forest sites. Two of the tundra sites contained a more diverse range of bacteria than the boreal forest samples, explains Neufeld, an unexpected result given the decrease in macroorganism biodiversity with increasing latitude. These days, microbial ecologists are relying on sequence-based molecular techniques to gauge taxonomic diversity. A gene target often used in such studies, is the highly variable ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Neufeld has developed a method for sequencing part of this molecule from many