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

0105165施密特/莱伊论文研究：极端环境中生物量和微生物多样性的季节变化高海拔距骨坡土壤中的微生物是微生物。与极地沙漠的土壤一样，高海拔距骨斜坡的特点是温度低，湿度极低，液态水很少，光照和UV-B水平高，极端温度在冰点上循环。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，这个系统的微生物生态极其复杂，以细菌和真菌组合的季节性变化为特征。这些耐人寻味的发现提出了这样一种可能性，即这些群体由非常不同的有机体组成。为了研究这种可能性，PIS将对用于估计微生物官能团生物量的技术进行分子分析。这项研究将有助于极端环境中的微生物生态学领域，也将有助于阐明微生物群体在环境中的作用，而这些微生物群体对环境的作用知之甚少。

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.