Microbial Survival in the Makgadikgadi Basin, Botswana

自然形成的盐田在地球上许多干旱和半干旱的环境中都有发现，包括美国、澳大利亚、中国和非洲。研究表明，某些微生物(嗜盐微生物，即喜盐微生物)可以在盐田环境中生存，并在高盐度、干燥、每日温度波动和强烈的太阳辐射下存活。博茨瓦纳的Makgadikgadi盆地是起源于更新世的巨型古湖系统的遗迹。如今，这个盆地由一个由几个锅组成的短暂湖泊系统组成。最大的盘状物是西边的Ntwetwe Pan盘和东边的Sua Pan盘(图1)，每个盘状物都包含不同的形态特征，这些特征是古代湖系的遗迹。这些特征受降水、入水、风沙活动等局地环境因素的影响，可作为气候信息的古气候档案。初步工作表明，PAN中存在不同的微生物群落；然而，关于这些微生物群落为应对PAN带来的环境挑战而利用的生态策略知之甚少。

Naturally formed salt pans are found in many arid and semiarid environments on Earth, including the USA, Australia, China and Africa. Studies have shown that certain microorganism (halophiles, i.e. salt loving) can life within salt pan environments and survive exposure to high salinity, desiccation, daily fluctuations in temperature and intense solar radiation. The Makgadikgadi Basin in Botswana is the relict of a mega-paleolake system that originated during the Pleistocene. Nowadays, the basin consists of a system of ephemeral lakes consisting of several pans. The largest pans are the Ntwetwe Pan in the west and the Sua Pan in the East (Figure 1), each containing distinct morphological features that are remnants of an ancient lake system. These features have been influenced by local environmental factors such as precipitation, water inflow and aeolian activity, and can act as a paleoclimatic archives for climate information. Preliminary work has demonstrated that diverse microbial communities exist with the pan; however, little is known about the ecological strategies utilized by these microbial communities in response to the environmental challenges presented by the pan.