Antarctic microorganism

Although most of the continent is covered by glacial ice sheets, ice-free areas comprising approximately 0.4% of the continental land mass are discontinuously distributed around the coastal margins.

[1] The McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica is a polar desert characterized by extremely low annual precipitation (<100 mm (3.9 in)) and an absence of vascular plants and vertebrates; microbial activity dominates biological functioning.

[4] Environments can be limiting due to soil properties such as unfavorable mineralogy, texture, structure, salts, pH, or moisture relationships.

[1] Dry Valley soils originate from weathering of bedrock and glacial tills that consist of granites, sandstones, basalts and metamorphic rocks.

[1] The harsh environment and low availability of carbon and water support a simplified community of mosses, lichens, and mats of green algae and red, orange, and black cyanobacteria near lakes and ephemeral streams.

[4] Living among the mats are bacteria, yeasts, molds, and an array of microscopic invertebrates that feed on microbes, algae, and detritus: nematodes, protozoa, rotifers, tardigrades, and occasionally, mites and springtails.

[7] Algae is present in almost all ice-free areas and occurs in soils, as epiphytes on mosses, in cyanobacterial mats and in plankton of lakes and ponds.

[8] Algae species identified in recent research:[8][9] Distribution of arthropods is limited to areas of high soil moisture and/or access to water, such as streams, or snow meltwater.

[8] Bacteria genera found in both air samples and the Antarctic include Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Corynebacterium, Micrococcus, Streptococcus, Neisseria, and Pseudomonas.

[10][11][12] Bacteria species identified in recent research:[8] Chaetomium gracile is frequently isolated from geothermally heated soil on Mt.

[8] Fungi genera found in both air samples and the Antarctic include Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Botryotrichum, Botrytis, Geotrichum, Staphylotrichum, Paecilomyces, and Rhizopus.