Advances in Defining Ecosystem Functions of the Terrestrial Subsurface Biosphere.

ABSTRACT: The subsurface is one of the last remaining 'uncharted territories' of Earth and is now accepted as a biosphere in its own right, at least as critical to Earth systems as the surface biosphere. The terrestrial deep biosphere is connected through a thin veneer of Earth's crust to the surface biosphere, and many subsurface biosphere ecosystems are impacted by surface topography, climate, and near surface groundwater movement and represent a transition zone (at least ephemerally). Delving below this transition zone, we can examine how microbial metabolic functions define a deep terrestrial subsurface. This review provides a survey of the most recent advances in discovering the functional and genomic diversity of the terrestrial subsurface biosphere, how microbes interact with minerals and obt

SUBMITTER: Meyer-Dombard DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9201636 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature