Abstract
Hypersaline environments are considered to be hostile environments due to their extreme conditions, such as high salinity and temperature. However, unicellular organisms from the three domains of life—Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya—are present in high numbers in these habitats where salt precipitation occurs due to saturation. In this chapter, we analyze the microbial community inhabiting different athalassohaline environments (ranging from 29% to 44% salinity) located in the Argentinean Altiplano with an elevation of 1615–4560 m a.s.l. Recently, the description of the microbial diversity in sediments and brines of these high-altitude hypersaline Andean Lakes (HAAL) have been addressed using culture-dependent and -independent approaches, and the main findings will be further discussed here. Additionally, biodiversity has been explored for novel diversity and connectivity between communities, as well as the influence of the environmental parameters on the total structure of the community. The understanding of the specific microbial patterns, with the final aim of using these environments as models, may shed light on how the extreme selection pressures shaped this specific lifestyle.
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Mora-Ruiz, M.d.R., Díaz-Gil, C. (2020). Microbial Diversity in Athalassohaline Argentinean Salterns. In: Farías, M. (eds) Microbial Ecosystems in Central Andes Extreme Environments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36192-1_12
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