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Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in Permafrost

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Permafrost Soils

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 16))

Considerable numbers of both Bacteria and Archaea are routinely recovered from up to 3 million year old permafrost. The phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of these isolates reflect the unique and extreme conditions of the permafrost environment. Most studies have indicated that cultured microbial isolates only account for a small proportion (0.001-10%) of the total microbial population. Recent applications of modern culture-independent technologies to the study of permafrost have greatly expanded the number and diversity of microbial groups associated with permafrost, leading to a more comprehensive description of permafrost microbial populations. In this chapter, we review studies describing the abundance and diversity of the Archaea and Bacteria communities in permafrost and what these studies have contributed to our understanding of the functioning and biogeography of permafrost microbial ecosystems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Rd, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9X 3V9

    Blaire Steven, Thomas D. Niederberger & Lyle G. Whyte

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  1. Blaire Steven
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  2. Thomas D. Niederberger
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  3. Lyle G. Whyte
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Correspondence to Lyle G. Whyte .

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  1. Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Rosa Margesin

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Steven, B., Niederberger, T.D., Whyte, L.G. (2009). Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in Permafrost. In: Margesin, R. (eds) Permafrost Soils. Soil Biology, vol 16. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69371-0_5

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