Abstract
The endolithic niche represents an ultimate refuge to microorganisms in the Mars-like environment of the Antarctic desert. In an era of rapid global change and desertification, the interest in these border ecosystems is increasing due to speculation on how they maintain balance and functionality at the dry limits of life. To assure a reliable estimation of microbial diversity, proper sampling must be planned in order to avoid the necessity of re-sampling as reaching these remote locations is risky and requires tremendous logistical and economical efforts. In this study, we seek to determine the minimum number of samples for uncovering comprehensive bacterial and fungal diversity, comparing communities in strict vicinity to each other. We selected three different locations of the Victoria Land (Continental Antarctica) at different altitudes and showing sandstone outcrops of a diverse nature and origin—Battleship promontory (834 m above sea level (a.s.l.), Southern VL), Trio Nunatak (1,470 m a.s.l., Northern VL) and Mt New Zealand (3,100 m a.s.l., Northern VL). Overall, we found that a wider sampling would be required to capture the whole amplitude of microbial diversity, particularly in Northern VL. We concluded that the inhomogeneity of the rock matrix and the stronger environmental pressure at higher altitudes may force the communities to a higher local diversification.
Highlights
Rocks represent an ancient terrestrial ecological niche, where microbes were the sole forms of life [1]
We focused on bacteria and fungi as the main components of these communities and we aimed to (i) test the effects of habitat constraints in the Antarctic endolithic settlement and highlight significant differences or overlapping in community structure and composition and (ii) determine whether
We reported no difference in bacterial diversity among the habitats; interestingly, shifts in fungal community structure were observed between Battleship Promontory (BP) and New Zealand (NZ), where the latter showed highest values for Shannon’s and Simpson’s indices
Summary
Rocks represent an ancient terrestrial ecological niche, where microbes were the sole forms of life [1]. Endolithic microorganisms have colonized many environments that border on the extreme limits of life, i.e., hot and cold deserts or geothermal environments [2,3,4,5] and all drylands worldwide [6]. These microbial communities play an important ecological role mediating inputs and outputs of gases, nutrients and water uptake from desert rock surfaces, regulating weathering, nutrient cycles and assuring the balance and functionality of these harshest ecosystems, creating positive feedback for further colonization and weathering [6,7]. Rock prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities are, crucial in the preservation of drylands and a deep understanding of their diversity and functionality is of high importance in an era of global warming and rapid expansion of desertification
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