The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are a cold hyperarid polar desert that present extreme
challenges to life. Here, we report a culture-independent survey of multidomain microbial …

Extreme arid regions in the worlds' major deserts are typified by quartz pavement terrain.
Cryptic hypolithic communities colonize the ventral surface of quartz rocks and this habitat is …

Factors governing large-scale spatio-temporal distribution of microorganisms remain
unresolved, yet are pivotal to understanding ecosystem value and function. Molecular genetic …

Subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems (SLiMEs) under oligotrophic conditions are
typically supported by H 2 . Methanogens and sulfate reducers, and the respective energy …

Despite detailed study of selected thermophilic taxa, overall community diversity of bacteria
in thermophilic mats remains relatively poorly understood. A sequence-based survey of …

Drylands are the largest terrestrial biome on Earth and a ubiquitous feature is desert
pavement terrain, comprising rocks embedded in the mineral soil surface. Quartz and other …

Subsurface microbial communities comprise a significant fraction of the global prokaryotic
biomass; however, the carbon metabolisms that support the deep biosphere have been …

The total community genomic DNA (gDNA) from permafrost was extracted using four
commercial DNA extraction kits. The gDNAs were compared using quantitative real-time PCR (…

Methane emissions from organic-rich soils in the Arctic have been extensively studied due
to their potential to increase the atmospheric methane burden as permafrost thaws 1 , 2 – 3 . …

Methane (CH 4 ) emission by carbon-rich cryosols at the high latitudes in Northern Hemisphere
has been studied extensively. In contrast, data on the CH 4 emission potential of carbon-…