HR: 11:35h
AN: C41D-06    [PDF]
TI: Identification of Previously Unknown Groups of Microorganisms Under the Tundra Snowpack
AU: * Schmidt, S
EM: Steve.Schmidt@Colorado.EDU
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Schadt, C W
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Lipson, D A
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Martin, A P
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AB: Recent work has shown that microbial communities are active under snow. In fact, in some tundra soils these organisms reach their year-round peak in late winter. These communities can function at temperatures down to at least $-5\deg$C and are fuelled by dead plant material laid down in the Autumn. Until now the identity of these cold adapted microbial communities was a complete mystery. We used microbiological and molecular techniques to elucidate the phylogenetic composition of these under-snow microbial communities. At the broadest taxonomic level, we show that fungi dominate the under-snow world. More detailed molecular analyses revealed a high diversity within the fungi and we identified three clades that constitute major new groups of fungi (at the subphylum or class level) that have not been previously described or cultured. An abundance of hitherto unknown fungi that are active beneath the snow significantly broadens our understanding of both the diversity and biogeochemical functioning of fungi in cold environments.
DE: 4803 Bacteria
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting