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      The Distribution and Identity of Edaphic Fungi in the McMurdo Dry Valleys

      research-article
      1 , 1 , 1 , 2 , *
      Biology
      MDPI
      Antarctica, fungi, Dry Valleys, soil, biogeography, microbial ecology

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          Abstract

          Contrary to earlier assumptions, molecular evidence has demonstrated the presence of diverse and localized soil bacterial communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether fungal signals so far detected in Dry Valley soils using both culture-based and molecular techniques represent adapted and ecologically active biomass or spores transported by wind. Through a systematic and quantitative molecular survey, we identified significant heterogeneities in soil fungal communities across the Dry Valleys that robustly correlate with heterogeneities in soil physicochemical properties. Community fingerprinting analysis and 454 pyrosequencing of the fungal ribosomal intergenic spacer region revealed different levels of heterogeneity in fungal diversity within individual Dry Valleys and a surprising abundance of Chytridiomycota species, whereas previous studies suggested that Dry Valley soils were dominated by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Critically, we identified significant differences in fungal community composition and structure of adjacent sites with no obvious barrier to aeolian transport between them. These findings suggest that edaphic fungi of the Antarctic Dry Valleys are adapted to local environments and represent an ecologically relevant (and possibly important) heterotrophic component of the ecosystem.

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          Most cited references56

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          MTML-msBayes: Approximate Bayesian comparative phylogeographic inference from multiple taxa and multiple loci with rate heterogeneity

          Background MTML-msBayes uses hierarchical approximate Bayesian computation (HABC) under a coalescent model to infer temporal patterns of divergence and gene flow across codistributed taxon-pairs. Under a model of multiple codistributed taxa that diverge into taxon-pairs with subsequent gene flow or isolation, one can estimate hyper-parameters that quantify the mean and variability in divergence times or test models of migration and isolation. The software uses multi-locus DNA sequence data collected from multiple taxon-pairs and allows variation across taxa in demographic parameters as well as heterogeneity in DNA mutation rates across loci. The method also allows a flexible sampling scheme: different numbers of loci of varying length can be sampled from different taxon-pairs. Results Simulation tests reveal increasing power with increasing numbers of loci when attempting to distinguish temporal congruence from incongruence in divergence times across taxon-pairs. These results are robust to DNA mutation rate heterogeneity. Estimating mean divergence times and testing simultaneous divergence was less accurate with migration, but improved if one specified the correct migration model. Simulation validation tests demonstrated that one can detect the correct migration or isolation model with high probability, and that this HABC model testing procedure was greatly improved by incorporating a summary statistic originally developed for this task (Wakeley's ΨW ). The method is applied to an empirical data set of three Australian avian taxon-pairs and a result of simultaneous divergence with some subsequent gene flow is inferred. Conclusions To retain flexibility and compatibility with existing bioinformatics tools, MTML-msBayes is a pipeline software package consisting of Perl, C and R programs that are executed via the command line. Source code and binaries are available for download at http://msbayes.sourceforge.net/ under an open source license (GNU Public License).
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            On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils.

            The arid soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys constitute some of the oldest, coldest, driest and most oligotrophic soils on Earth. Early studies suggested that the Dry Valley soils contained, at best, very low levels of viable microbiota. However, recent applications of molecular methods have revealed a dramatically contrasting picture - a very wide diversity of microbial taxa, many of which are uncultured and taxonomically unique, and a community that seems to be structured solely by abiotic processes. Here we review our understanding of these extreme Antarctic terrestrial microbial communities, with particular emphasis on the factors that are involved in their development, distribution and maintenance in these cold desert environments.
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              Spatial scaling of microbial eukaryote diversity.

              Patterns in the spatial distribution of organisms provide important information about mechanisms that regulate the diversity of life and the complexity of ecosystems. Although microorganisms may comprise much of the Earth's biodiversity and have critical roles in biogeochemistry and ecosystem functioning, little is known about their spatial diversification. Here we present quantitative estimates of microbial community turnover at local and regional scales using the largest spatially explicit microbial diversity data set available (> 10(6) sample pairs). Turnover rates were small across large geographical distances, of similar magnitude when measured within distinct habitats, and did not increase going from one vegetation type to another. The taxa-area relationship of these terrestrial microbial eukaryotes was relatively flat (slope z = 0.074) and consistent with those reported in aquatic habitats. This suggests that despite high local diversity, microorganisms may have only moderate regional diversity. We show how turnover patterns can be used to project taxa-area relationships up to whole continents. Taxa dissimilarities across continents and between them would strengthen these projections. Such data do not yet exist, but would be feasible to collect.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Biology (Basel)
                Biology (Basel)
                biology
                Biology
                MDPI
                2079-7737
                30 July 2014
                September 2014
                : 3
                : 3
                : 466-483
                Affiliations
                [1 ]International Centre for Terrestrial Antarctic Research, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3216, New Zealand; E-Mails: lisa.laura1991@ 123456hotmail.com (L.L.D.); cklee@ 123456waikato.ac.nz (C.K.L.)
                [2 ]College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958, USA
                Author notes
                [* ]Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: caryc@ 123456waikato.ac.nz ; Tel.: +64-7-838-4593; Fax: +64-7-838-4324.
                Article
                biology-03-00466
                10.3390/biology3030466
                4192622
                25079129
                d9586f62-c83b-4d4d-b4e9-3f783a70abe1
                © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 23 May 2014
                : 14 July 2014
                : 16 July 2014
                Categories
                Article

                antarctica,fungi,dry valleys,soil,biogeography,microbial ecology

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