Microbial diversity in Antarctic soils

南极洲是最南端的大陆，它覆盖了南极。南极洲的大部分被冰覆盖，但在大陆边缘的许多地方和南极洲周围海洋中的许多岛屿上，有一些无冰的陆地。这片无冰的土地包括南奥克尼群岛的部分地区（包括英国南极调查[BAS]在Signy岛的基地），南设得兰群岛，阿德莱德岛（包括BAS在Rothera的基地）和亚历山大岛（包括BAS在化石海崖的站）。这些地方都在南极洲的一部分，直接在南美洲的南部，将成为这个研究项目的地点。这些地点覆盖约1 600公里的距离，从南纬61度（Signy）延伸到南纬72度（化石海崖），随着向南距离的增加，条件变得更冷和更干燥，这对生活在陆地上的生物的数量、不同类型和活动产生了重要影响。这些生物包括一些植物，这些植物变得非常罕见，最终在南方消失，以及微生物，包括生活在土壤中的细菌和真菌。该研究项目的目的是确定哪些生物生活在不同地点的土壤中，它们如何在不同社区中共同生活，以及它们如何受到温度和液态水供应等环境因素变化的影响。了解这些生物如何受到不断变化的环境因素的影响是很重要的，因为整个南极洲，特别是该项目所在的南极洲部分，对气候变化的反应最快，是世界其他地区变化的一个重要指标。

Antarctica is the most southerly continent and it covers the south pole. Most of Antarctica is covered by ice, but in many places around the edges of the continent and on many of the islands in the ocean around Antarctica there is some ice-free land. This ice-free land includes parts of the South Orkney Islands (including the British Antarctic Survey [BAS] base at Signy Island), the South Shetland Islands, Adelaide Island (including the BAS base at Rothera), and Alexander Island (including the BAS station at Fossil Bluff). These places are all in the part of Antarctica directly to the south of South America and are going to be the sites used in this research project. These sites cover a distance of about 1600 km stretching from about 61ºS (Signy) to 72ºS (Fossil Bluff) and with increasing distance to the south, the conditions become colder and drier, and this has an important effect on the numbers, the different types and the activities of the organisms that live on the land. These organisms include some plants, which become very rare and eventually disappear in the south, and microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi living in the soil. The aim of this research project is to determine which organisms live in the soils of the different sites, how they live together in the different communities and how they are affected by changes to environmental factors such as temperature and the availability of liquid water. Knowing how the organisms are affected by changing environmental factors is important because Antarctica in general and especially the part of Antarctica where this project will be based is responding fastest to climate changes and is an important indicator of change for the rest of the world.