Introduction Microbial mats are complex communities of benthic microorganisms that occur
at the soil-water interphase in lakes' shores, streams, and ponds. In the cold, mountainous …

The advent of molecular tools, and particularly next-generation sequencing, has
dramatically changed our knowledge of the diversity of microbial life on Earth. In recent …

The pedogenesis from the mineral substrate released upon glacier melting has been
explained with the succession of consortia of pioneer microorganisms, whose structure and …

Altitude and ultraviolet (UV) radiation may affect the community composition and distribution
of microorganisms in soil ecosystems. In this study, 49 soil samples from 10 locations were …

Summary The hyperarid Sahara Desert presents extreme and persistent dry conditions with
a limited number of hours during which the moisture availability, temperature and light allow …

The establishment of biological soil crusts is widely perceived as a main strategy to improve
the ecological environment in arid and semi‐arid regions. However, artificial biocrusts fail to …

The majority of investigations on microbial communities from various environments are
presently built on culture-independent methods. Many studies point to the pivotal, selective …

Lithobionts are organisms that exist on and within rocks (Golubic et al., 1981). A subset of
organisms in this group actively excavate and inhabit their substrata, and are known as …

The majority of investigations on microbial communities from various environments are
presently built on culture-independent methods. Many studies point to the pivotal, selective …