<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Childress, Mary K.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vanderburgh, Caihong</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Willmore, Rachel</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sancho, Leopoldo G.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Charles K. Lee</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">John E. Barrett</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Quandt, C. Alisha</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">LeMonte, Joshua J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Adams, Byron J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">A comprehensive survey of soil microbial diversity across the Antarctic continent</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Polar Biology</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctica</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">bacteria</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">fungi</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">microbial ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soils</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2025</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">02/2025</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00300-025-03372-y</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">48</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Antarctic soils are unique from those found nearly anywhere else on Earth yet can still harbor a broad diversity of microorganisms able to tolerate the challenging conditions typical of the continent. For these reasons, microbiologists have been drawn to Antarctica for decades. However, our understanding of which microbes thrive in Antarctic soils and how they to do so remains limited. To help resolve these knowledge gaps, we analyzed a collection of 200 archived Antarctic soils&amp;mdash;from Livingston Island on the Antarctic Peninsula to Cape Hallett in northern Victoria Land. We analyzed the prokaryotic and fungal communities in these soils using both cultivation-independent marker gene sequencing and cultivation-dependent approaches (microbial isolation), paired with extensive soil geochemical analyses. Our cultivation-independent analyses indicate that colder, saltier, and drier soils harbor less diverse communities of bacteria and fungi, distinct from those found in soils with less challenging conditions. We also built a culture collection from a subset of these soils that encompasses more than 50 bacterial and fungal genera, including cold-tolerant organisms, such as &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Cryobacterium&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; and &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Cryomyces&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;. By directly comparing the diversity of our cultured isolates against our cultivation-independent data, we show that many of the more abundant Antarctic taxa are not readily cultivated and highlight bacterial and fungal taxa that should be the focus of future cultivation efforts. Together, we hope that our collection of isolates, the comprehensive data compiled from the cultivation-independent analyses, and our geochemical analyses will serve as a community resource to accelerate the study of Antarctic soil microbes.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Childress, Mary K.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Young, Benjamin D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Adams, Byron J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Quandt, C. Alisha</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Three new Pseudogymnoascus species (&lt;i&gt;Pseudeurotiaceae&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Thelebolales&lt;/i&gt;) described from Antarctic soils</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">IMA Fungus</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctic microbial diversity</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">new species</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">phylogenetics</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">psychrophilic fungi</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">psychrotolerance</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">taxonomy</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">whole genome assembly</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2025</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">03/2025</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://imafungus.pensoft.net/article/142219/</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">16</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;The genus &lt;i&gt;Pseudogymnoascus&lt;/i&gt; includes several species frequently isolated from extreme environments worldwide, including cold environments such as Antarctica. This study describes three new species of &lt;i&gt;Pseudogymnoascus&lt;/i&gt;&amp;mdash;&lt;i&gt;P. russus&lt;/i&gt; sp. nov., &lt;i&gt;P. irelandiae&lt;/i&gt; sp. nov., and &lt;i&gt;P. ramosus&lt;/i&gt; sp. nov.&amp;mdash;isolated from Antarctic soils. These species represent the first &lt;i&gt;Pseudogymnoascus&lt;/i&gt; taxa to be formally described from Antarctic soil samples, expanding our understanding of fungal biodiversity in this extreme environment. Microscopic descriptions of asexual structures from living cultures, along with measurements of cultural characteristics and growth on various media types at different temperatures, identify three distinct new species. In addition, phylogenetic analyses based on five gene regions (ITS, LSU, MCM7, RPB2, TEF1) and whole-genome proteomes place these new species within three distinct previously described clades: &lt;i&gt;P. irelandiae&lt;/i&gt; in clade K, &lt;i&gt;P. ramosus&lt;/i&gt; in clade Q, and &lt;i&gt;P. russus&lt;/i&gt; in clade B. These results provide further evidence of the extensive undescribed diversity of &lt;i&gt;Pseudogymnoascus&lt;/i&gt; in high-latitude soils. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on Antarctic mycology and the broader ecology of psychrophilic and psychrotolerant fungi.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>32</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author></authors><secondary-authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Microbial life in challenging environments</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctica</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">environmental conditions</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">microbial ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">microorganisms</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soils</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">tonga</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2023</style></year></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://www.proquest.com/docview/2814734209</style></url></web-urls></urls><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">University of Colorado Boulder</style></publisher><pub-location><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Boulder, CO</style></pub-location><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ph.D.</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Microorganisms are nearly ubiquitous on Earth, but the identity and function of microbial communities are inherently dependent on the properties of the specific environment in question. Here, I have studied soils around the world to answer questions about how the functional attributes of microorganisms allow them to respond to challenging environmental conditions. First, I explore how microbial communities in soils change across environmental gradients in Antarctica. I show that microbes in Antarctic surface soils are most restricted by low temperatures, low water availability, and high concentrations of salt. Microbial communities near the polar plateau, the most challenging environment, are dominated by Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi, and are enriched in genes associated with the oxidation of hydrogen gas as an energy source. Second, I show that the earliest microbial colonizers of a newly-formed volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga are chemolithotrophs that appear to have come from nearby geothermal systems. While many of these microbes utilize sulfur as an energy source, the most abundant organisms have genes that indicate they can oxidize trace gases including carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Finally, I show that organisms associated with carbon limited subsurface soils tend to have smaller genomes, grow more slowly, and have more gene pathways associated with metabolism and the storage of carbon. Taken together, these studies shed light on microbial survival in challenging soil environments and show the varied ways in which microbial communities interact with and are affected by their surroundings.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">doctoral</style></work-type></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lemoine, Nathan P.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Byron Adams</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Melisa A. Diaz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Franco, André L. C.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Berry Lyons</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author></authors><secondary-authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lurgi, Miguel</style></author></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Strong dispersal limitation of microbial communities at Shackleton Glacier, Antarctica</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">mSystems</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">community assembly</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">determinism</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dispersal</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">niche</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">stochasticity</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2023</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">01/2023</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/msystems.01254-22</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">8</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Microbial communities can be structured by both deterministic and stochastic processes, but the relative importance of these processes remains unknown. The ambiguity partly arises from an inability to disentangle soil microbial processes from confounding factors, such as aboveground plant communities or anthropogenic disturbance. In this study, we characterized the relative contributions of determinism and stochasticity to assembly processes of soil bacterial communities across a large environmental gradient of undisturbed Antarctic soils. We hypothesized that harsh soils would impose a strong environmental selection on microbial communities, whereas communities in benign soils would be structured largely by dispersal. Contrary to our expectations, dispersal was the dominant assembly mechanism across the entire soil environmental gradient, including benign environments. The microbial community composition reflects slowly changing soil conditions and dispersal limitation of isolated sites. Thus, stochastic processes, as opposed to deterministic, are primary drivers of soil ecosystem assembly across space at our study site. This is especially surprising given the strong environmental constraints on soil microorganisms in one of the harshest environments on the planet, suggesting that dispersal could be a driving force in microbial community assembly in soils worldwide.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Henley, Jessica B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Holland-Moritz, Hannah</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Melisa A. Diaz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Berry Lyons</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Byron Adams</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author></authors><secondary-authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mackelprang, Rachel</style></author></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Elevational constraints on the composition and genomic attributes of microbial communities in Antarctic soils</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">mSystems</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctica</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">microbial ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soil microbiology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soils</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2022</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">01/2022</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/msystems.01330-21</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">7</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">e01330-21</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;The inland soils found on the Antarctic continent represent one of the more challenging environments for microbial life on Earth. Nevertheless, Antarctic soils harbor unique bacterial and archaeal (prokaryotic) communities able to cope with extremely cold and dry conditions. These communities are not homogeneous, and the taxonomic composition and functional capabilities (genomic attributes) of these communities across environmental gradients remain largely undetermined. We analyzed the prokaryotic communities in soil samples collected from across the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica by coupling quantitative PCR, marker gene amplicon sequencing, and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. We found that elevation was the dominant factor explaining differences in the structures of the soil prokaryotic communities, with the drier and saltier soils found at higher elevations harboring less diverse communities and unique assemblages of cooccurring taxa. The higher-elevation soil communities also had lower maximum potential growth rates (as inferred from metagenome-based estimates of codon usage bias) and an overrepresentation of genes associated with trace gas metabolism. Together, these results highlight the utility of assessing community shifts across pronounced environmental gradients to improve our understanding of the microbial diversity found in Antarctic soils and the strategies used by soil microbes to persist at the limits of habitability.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Franco, André L. C.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Byron Adams</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Melisa A. Diaz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lemoine, Nathan P.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Berry Lyons</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Response of Antarctic soil fauna to climate‐driven changes since the Last Glacial Maximum</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Global Change Biology</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">biodiversity</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">climate change</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">glacial retreat</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">nematodes</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Shackleton Glacier</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soil invertebrates</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2022</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">01/2022</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15940</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">28</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Understanding how terrestrial biotic communities have responded to glacial recession since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) can inform present and future responses of biota to climate change. In Antarctica, the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) have experienced massive environmental changes associated with glacial retreat since the LGM, yet we have few clues as to how its soil invertebrate-dominated animal communities have responded. Here, we surveyed soil invertebrate fauna from above and below proposed LGM elevations along transects located at 12 features across the Shackleton Glacier region. Our transects captured gradients of surface ages possibly up to 4.5 million years and the soils have been free from human disturbance for their entire history. Our data support the hypothesis that soils exposed during the LGM are now less suitable habitats for invertebrates than those that have been exposed by deglaciation following the LGM. Our results show that faunal abundance, community composition, and diversity were all strongly affected by climate-driven changes since the LGM. Soils more recently exposed by glacial recession (as indicated by distances from present ice surfaces) had higher faunal abundances and species richness than older exposed soils. Higher abundances of the dominant nematode &lt;i&gt;Scottnema&lt;/i&gt; were found in older exposed soils, while &lt;i&gt;Eudorylaimus&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Plectus&lt;/i&gt;, tardigrades, and rotifers preferentially occurred in more recently exposed soils. Approximately 30% of the soils from which invertebrates could be extracted had only &lt;i&gt;Scottnema&lt;/i&gt;, and these single-taxon communities occurred more frequently in soils exposed for longer periods of time. Our structural equation modeling of abiotic drivers highlighted soil salinity as a key mediator of &lt;i&gt;Scottnema&lt;/i&gt; responses to soil exposure age. These changes in soil habitat suitability and biotic communities since the LGM indicate that Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity throughout the TAM will be highly altered by climate warming.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">George, Scott F.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Joseph S. Levy</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Byron Adams</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctic water tracks: Microbial community responses to variation in soil moisture, pH, and salinity</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Frontiers in Microbiology</style></secondary-title><short-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Front. Microbiol.</style></short-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctica</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">extremophiles</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mars analog</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">microbial ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">water tracks</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2021</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">01/2021</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.616730</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">12</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Ice-free soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys select for taxa able to cope with challenging environmental conditions, including extreme chemical water activity gradients, freeze-thaw cycling, desiccation, and solar radiation regimes. The low biotic complexity of Dry Valley soils makes them well suited to investigate environmental and spatial influences on bacterial community structure. Water tracks are annually wetted habitats in the cold-arid soils of Antarctica that form briefly each summer with moisture sourced from snow melt, ground ice thaw, and atmospheric deposition via deliquescence and vapor flow into brines. Compared to neighboring arid soils, water tracks are highly saline and relatively moist habitats. They represent a considerable area (&amp;sim;5&amp;ndash;10 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) of the Dry Valley terrestrial ecosystem, an area that is expected to increase with ongoing climate change. The goal of this study was to determine how variation in the environmental conditions of water tracks influences the composition and diversity of microbial communities. We found significant differences in microbial community composition between on- and off-water track samples, and across two distinct locations. Of the tested environmental variables, soil salinity was the best predictor of community composition, with members of the &lt;em&gt;Bacteroidetes&lt;/em&gt; phylum being relatively more abundant at higher salinities and the &lt;em&gt;Actinobacteria&lt;/em&gt; phylum showing the opposite pattern. There was also a significant, inverse relationship between salinity and bacterial diversity. Our results suggest water track formation significantly alters dry soil microbial communities, likely influencing subsequent ecosystem functioning. We highlight how Dry Valley water tracks could be a useful model system for understanding the potential habitability of transiently wetted environments found on the surface of Mars.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dragone, Nicholas B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Melisa A. Diaz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Berry Lyons</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Andrew Jackson</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Adams, Byron J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Exploring the boundaries of microbial habitability in soil</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</style></secondary-title><short-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">J Geophys Res Biogeosci</style></short-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antarctica</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">astrobiology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">bacteria</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">extremophiles</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">fungi</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">soils</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2021</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">06/2021</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JG006052</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">126</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Microbes are widely assumed to be capable of colonizing even the most challenging terrestrial surface environments on Earth given enough time. We would not expect to find surface soils uninhabited by microbes as soils typically harbor diverse microbial communities and viable microbes have been detected in soils exposed to even the most inhospitable conditions. However, if uninhabited soils do exist, we might expect to find them in Antarctica. We analyzed 204 ice-free soils collected from across a remote valley in the Transantarctic Mountains (84&amp;ndash;85&amp;deg;S, 174&amp;ndash;177&amp;deg;W) and were able to identify a potential limit of microbial habitability. While most of the soils we tested contained diverse microbial communities, with fungi being particularly ubiquitous, microbes could not be detected in many of the driest, higher elevation soils&amp;mdash;results that were confirmed using cultivation-dependent, cultivation-independent, and metabolic assays. While we cannot confirm that this subset of soils is completely sterile and devoid of microbial life, our results suggest that microbial life is severely restricted in the coldest, driest, and saltiest Antarctic soils. Constant exposure to these conditions for thousands of years has limited microbial communities so that their presence and activity is below detectable limits using a variety of standard methods. Such soils are unlikely to be unique to the studied region with this work supporting previous hypotheses that microbial habitability is constrained by near-continuous exposure to cold, dry, and salty conditions, establishing the environmental conditions that limit microbial life in terrestrial surface soils.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">6</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Melisa A. Diaz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Christopher B. Gardner</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Welch, Susan A.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Andrew Jackson</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Adams, Byron J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hogg, Ian D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">W. Berry Lyons</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Geochemical zones and environmental gradients for soils from the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Biogeosciences</style></secondary-title><short-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Biogeosciences</style></short-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2021</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">03/2021</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/18/1629/2021/</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">18</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1629 - 1644</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Previous studies have established links between biodiversity and soil geochemistry in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, where environmental gradients are important determinants of soil biodiversity. However, these gradients are not well established in the central Transantarctic Mountains, which are thought to represent some of the least hospitable Antarctic soils. We analyzed 220 samples from 11 ice-free areas along the Shackleton Glacier (~85&amp;deg;S), a major outlet glacier of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. We established three zones of distinct geochemical gradients near the head of the glacier (upper), its central part (middle), and at the mouth (lower). The upper zone had the highest water-soluble salt concentrations with total salt concentrations exceeding 80 000 &amp;micro;g g&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, while the lower zone had the lowest water-soluble N:P ratios, suggesting that, in addition to other parameters (such as proximity to water and/or ice), the lower zone likely represents the most favorable ecological habitats. Given the strong dependence of geochemistry on geographic parameters, we developed multiple linear regression and random forest models to predict soil geochemical trends given latitude, longitude, elevation, distance from the coast, distance from the glacier, and soil moisture (variables which can be inferred from remote measurements). Confidence in our random forest model predictions was moderately high with &lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; values for total water-soluble salts, water-soluble N:P, ClO&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt;, and ClO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;sup&gt;-&lt;/sup&gt; of 0.81, 0.88, 0.78, and 0.74, respectively. These modeling results can be used to predict geochemical gradients and estimate salt concentrations for other Transantarctic Mountain soils, information that can ultimately be used to better predict distributions of soil biota in this remote region.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">5</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Thompson, Luke R.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sanders, Jon G.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">McDonald, Daniel</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Amir, Amnon</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ladau, Joshua</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Locey, Kenneth J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Prill, Robert J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Tripathi, Anupriya</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Gibbons, Sean M.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ackermann, Gail</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Navas-Molina, Jose A.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Janssen, Stefan</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Kopylova, Evguenia</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vázquez-Baeza, Yoshiki</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Antonio González</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Morton, James T.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mirarab, Siavash</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Zech Xu, Zhenjiang</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jiang, Lingjing</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Haroon, Mohamed F.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Kanbar, Jad</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Zhu, Qiyun</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jin Song, Se</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Kosciolek, Tomasz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Bokulich, Nicholas A.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lefler, Joshua</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Brislawn, Colin J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Humphrey, Gregory</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Owens, Sarah M.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hampton-Marcell, Jarrad</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Berg-Lyons, Donna</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">McKenzie, Valerie</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Fuhrman, Jed A.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Clauset, Aaron</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Stevens, Rick L.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Shade, Ashley</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pollard, Katherine S.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Goodwin, Kelly D.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jansson, Janet K.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Gilbert, Jack A.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Knight, Rob</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The Earth Microbiome Project Consortium</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Nature</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2017</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">11/2017</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24621</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">551</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Our growing awareness of the microbial world&amp;rsquo;s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth&amp;rsquo;s microbial diversity.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><section><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">457</style></section></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Noah Fierer</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jonathan W. Leff</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Byron Adams</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Uffe N. Nielsen</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Scott T. Bates</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Christian L. Lauber</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sarah Owens</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jack A. Gilbert</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diana H. Wall</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">J. Gregory Caporaso</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Cross-biome metagenomic analyses of soil microbial communities and their functional attributes</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Proceedings Bational Academy of Sciences</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2012</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">11/2012</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1215210110</style></url></web-urls></urls><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language></record></records></xml>