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Bacterial Community Structures of Antarctic Soils

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Antarctic Terrestrial Microbiology

Abstract

Antarctica’s ice-free environments span diverse habitats, ranging from well developed and nutrient rich soils in the coastal areas, to poorly developed and oligotrophic soils in the continent’s deserts and high elevation sites. Though most terrestrial environments in Antarctica are typified by harsh environmental conditions, many soils are home to abundant and diverse bacterial communities. These communities are locally adapted, varying both between and within different regions of the continent, and typically reflecting the local physicochemical and biological characteristics of the soils. Environmental conditions are changing rapidly in many areas, due to increased human activity on the continent and the impacts of climate change. This chapter reviews characteristics of bacterial communities in soils across Antarctica in relation to their environment, and discusses the potential responses of bacterial communities to contemporary environmental change. Continued and coordinated efforts to understand bacterial community structure and function in Antarctic soils will be necessary to monitor and predict ecological responses in these changing environments, and to shape management practices that will ensure the protection and preservation of biodiversity in Antarctica’s terrestrial ecosystems.

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  1. The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Eric M. Bottos, Joshua W. Scarrow, Stephen D. J. Archer, Ian R. McDonald & S. Craig Cary

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Correspondence to S. Craig Cary .

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  1. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Don A. Cowan

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Bottos, E.M., Scarrow, J.W., Archer, S.D.J., McDonald, I.R., Cary, S.C. (2014). Bacterial Community Structures of Antarctic Soils. In: Cowan, D. (eds) Antarctic Terrestrial Microbiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45213-0_2

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