Prokaryotic diversity and biogeochemical characteristics of benthic microbial ecosystems at La Brava, a hypersaline lake at Salar de Atacama, Chile.

ABSTRACT: Benthic microbial ecosystems of Laguna La Brava, Salar de Atacama, a high altitude hypersaline lake, were characterized in terms of bacterial and archaeal diversity, biogeochemistry, (including O2 and sulfide depth profiles and mineralogy), and physicochemical characteristics. La Brava is one of several lakes in the Salar de Atacama where microbial communities are growing in extreme conditions, including high salinity, high solar insolation, and high levels of metals such as lithium, arsenic, magnesium, and calcium. Evaporation creates hypersaline conditions in these lakes and mineral precipitation is a characteristic geomicrobiological feature of these benthic ecosystems. In this study, the La Brava non-lithifying microbial mats, microbialites, and rhizome-associated concretions were comp

SUBMITTER: Farias ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5687714 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature