Geochemically Defined Space-for-Time Transects Successfully Capture Microbial Dynamics Along Lacustrine Chronosequences in a Polar Desert.

ABSTRACT: The space-for-time substitution approach provides a valuable empirical assessment to infer temporal effects of disturbance from spatial gradients. Applied to predict the response of different ecosystems under current climate change scenarios, it remains poorly tested in microbial ecology studies, partly due to the trophic complexity of the ecosystems typically studied. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica represent a trophically simple polar desert projected to experience drastic changes in water availability under current climate change scenarios. We used this ideal model system to develop and validate a microbial space-for-time sampling approach, using the variation of geochemical profiles that follow alterations in water availability and reflect past changes in the system. Our fr

SUBMITTER: Monteiro MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8841834 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature