Understanding the Response of Nitrifying Communities to Disturbance in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: Polar ecosystems are generally limited in nitrogen (N) nutrients, and the patchy availability of N is partly determined by biological pathways, such as nitrification, which are carried out by distinctive prokaryotic functional groups. The activity and diversity of microorganisms are generally strongly influenced by environmental conditions. However, we know little of the attributes that control the distribution and activity of specific microbial functional groups, such as nitrifiers, in extreme cold environments and how they may respond to change. To ascertain relationships between soil geochemistry and the ecology of nitrifying microbial communities, we carried out a laboratory-based manipulative experiment to test the selective effect of key geochemical variables on the activity and abun

SUBMITTER: Monteiro M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7143839 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature