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  • Review Article
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On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 8, pages 129–138 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Approximately 0.3% of Antarctica is perpetually ice free, with the largest single area being the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land. These glacially carved valleys are thought to be some of the coldest, driest places on earth and analogues of Martian terrestrial environments.

  • The valleys are dominated by glacially derived mineral soils, which are characterized by large annual and daily temperature fluctuations, sever aridity, extreme oligotrophy and, often, high salinity.

  • Eukaryotic and prokaryotic diversity analyses in the Dry Valleys suggests that these soils constitute one of the simplest trophic structures in the terrestrial biosphere.

  • Modern molecular tools have recently revealed that the Dry Valley soils harbour an extraordinary diversity of taxonomically unique bacteria, the communities of which seem to be structured primarily by abiotic forces. In addition, these studies are finding that the environment, which outwardly seems to be mundane and homogeneous, supports highly heterogeneous microbial communities.

  • The extreme nature of the Dry Valley environment has led to the development of microbial communities in protected niches. The most substantial of these are the lithic environments, where well-developed microbial communities have colonized cracks in rocks (these communities are known as chasmoliths), the undersides of translucent rocks (hypoliths) and the subsurface interstices of coarse crystalline rock types (endoliths).

  • Climate warming and cooling have both contributed to substantial changes in the structure and function of ecosystems in the Dry Valleys, in particular of soils that seem to be especially sensitive to climate change and variability. A decadal-scale cooling between 1986 and 2001 was associated with a 60% decline in the dominant invertebrate species, and a summer warming and melting event in January 2002 stimulated soil diversity and microbial biomass.

Abstract

The arid soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys constitute some of the oldest, coldest, driest and most oligotrophic soils on Earth. Early studies suggested that the Dry Valley soils contained, at best, very low levels of viable microbiota. However, recent applications of molecular methods have revealed a dramatically contrasting picture — a very wide diversity of microbial taxa, many of which are uncultured and taxonomically unique, and a community that seems to be structured solely by abiotic processes. Here we review our understanding of these extreme Antarctic terrestrial microbial communities, with particular emphasis on the factors that are involved in their development, distribution and maintenance in these cold desert environments.

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Figure 1: Phylogenetic diversity of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and comparison with bacterial diversity in clone libraries from the Antarctic Peninsula, a hot desert and temperate surface soils.
Figure 2: Schematic comparisons of unique Antarctic desert soil habitats.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from Antarctica New Zealand to S.C.C, I.R.M and D.A.C., from the Marsden Fund, New Zealand, to S.C.C. and I.R.M., from the Foundation of Research Science and Technology, New Zealand, to S.C.C., from the National Science Foundation, USA, to S.C.C. and J.E.B., and from the National Research Foundation, South Africa, to D.A.C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

    S. Craig Cary & Ian R. McDonald

  2. College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Rd., Lewes, Delaware, 19958, USA

    S. Craig Cary

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 24061, Virginia, USA

    John E. Barrett

  4. Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, 7535, South Africa

    Don A. Cowan

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  1. S. Craig Cary
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Glossary

Last glacial maximum

The time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation approximately 20,000 years ago.

Biota

The total collection of organisms in a geographic region.

Trophic level

An organism's position in the food chain.

Nanutuks

Localized rocky, exposed, ice-free regions in terrestrial ice fields.

Austral

Of the Southern Hemisphere.

Sublime

Transition from the solid state to the gaseous phase with no intermediate liquid stage.

Katabatic wind

A wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. In the Antarctic, the build-up of high-density, cold air over the ice sheets and the elevation of the ice sheets bring into play enormous gravitational energy, propelling the winds at well over hurricane force.

Permafrost layer

Soil that is at or below the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F) for ≥2 years.

Lithic environment

An environment that relates to or is composed of stone.

Lacustrine sediments

Lake sediments

Aeolian redistribution

Wind dispersal

Ornithogenic

Derived from the deposition of the faecal matter of various bird species; ornithogenic material is a major source of nutrient input in the maritime Antarctic.

Fell-field soil

Soil in an environment, usually alpine or tundra, where the dynamics of frost (freeze and thaw cycles) and of wind give rise to characteristic plant forms in scree interstices. In addition, the high porosity of the soil makes a fell-field a difficult place for plants to grow.

Psychrophilic

Pertaining to an organism that prefers cold temperatures.

Hypolithic

Pertaining to an organism that lives underneath rocks in climatically extreme deserts.

Cryptoendolithic

Pertaining to an organism that colonizes structural cavities within porous rock.

Photoautotrophic

Pertaining to an organism that is capable of synthesizing its own food using light.

Heterotrophic

Pertaining to an organism that is capable of synthesizing its own food using chemical energy from inorganic substances.

Mesic soil

Soil with a moderate or well-balanced supply of moisture.

Psychrotrophic

Pertaining to an organism that is capable of surviving or even thriving in a cold environment.

Mesophilic

Pertaining to an organism that grows best in moderate temperatures, typically between 15 °C and 40 °C (77 °F and 104 °F).

Chasmolithic

Pertaining to an organism that colonizes fissures and cracks in the rock.

Endolithic

Pertaining to an organism (archaeum, bacterium, fungus, lichen, alga or amoeba) that lives inside rock, coral or animal shells or in the pores between the mineral grains of a rock.

Abiotic

Not associated with or derived from living organisms.

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Cary, S., McDonald, I., Barrett, J. et al. On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils. Nat Rev Microbiol 8, 129–138 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2281

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