Sea spray allows for the growth of subaerial microbialites at the driest desert on Earth.

ABSTRACT: Due to its extreme conditions, microbial life in the Atacama Desert is known to survive in well-protected micro-habitats (hypolithic, endolithic, etc.), but rarely directly exposed to the environment, that is, epilithic habitats. Here we report a unique site, La Portada, a cliff confronting the Pacific Ocean in the Coastal Range of this desert, in which the constant input of water provided by the sea spray allows for the growth of a black-colored epilithic subaerial microbial ecosystem. Formed by a complex community of halophilic microorganisms belonging to the three domains of life, this ecosystem displays the typical three-dimensional structure of benthic microbialites, coherent with the presence of a diversity of cyanobacteria (including species from the genera that are known to form th

SUBMITTER: Azua-Bustos A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11358262 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature