Dissertation Research: Seasonal Changes in Biomass and Diversity of Microbes in an Extreme Environment

[0105165] Schmidt/Ley博士论文研究：极端环境下生物量和微生物多样性的季节变化高海拔坡面土壤中的生命是微生物。像极地沙漠的土壤一样，高海拔距地斜坡的特点是温度低，湿度极低，液态水少，光照和UV-B水平高，冰点上的极端温度循环。是什么控制着微生物的生产和生物量？PI和研究生Ruth Ley的早期发现表明，该系统的微生物生态极其复杂，其特征是细菌和真菌组合的季节性变化。这些有趣的发现提出了一种可能性，即由非常不同的有机体组成了这些群体。为了研究这种可能性，pi将应用分子分析技术来估计微生物功能群生物量。这项研究将有助于极端环境下微生物生态学的研究，并有助于阐明鲜为人知的微生物群在环境中的作用。

0105165 Schmidt/Ley Dissertation Research: Seasonal changes in biomass and diversity of microbes in an extreme environment Life in the soils of high elevation talus slopes is microbial. Like soils of polar deserts, high elevation talus slopes are characterized by cold temperatures, extremely low humidity, little liquid water, high light and UV-B levels, and extreme temperature cycling across the freezing point. What controls microbial production and biomass? Early findings by the PI and graduate student Ruth Ley have shown that the microbial ecology of this system is exceedingly complex, and is characterized by seasonal variations in bacterial and fungal assemblages. These intriguing findings have raised the possibility that very different suites of organisms comprise these groups. To investigate this possibility, the PIs will apply molecular analyses to the techniques used to estimate microbial functional group biomass. This study will contribute to the field of microbial ecology in extreme environments, and also to elucidating the environmental roles of microbial groups about which little is known.