Patterns of environmental spatial structure lie at the heart of the most fundamental and
familiar patterns of diversity on Earth. Antarctica contains some of the strongest …

▪ Abstract The Antarctic continent harbors a range of specialized and sometimes highly
localized microbial biotopes. These include biotopes associated with desiccated mineral …

There is now compelling evidence that microbially mediated reactions impart a significant
effect upon the dynamics, composition, and abundance of nutrients in glacial melt water …

The Antarctic continent is widely considered to be one of the most hostile biological habitats
on Earth. Despite extreme environmental conditions, the ice-free areas of the continent …

Deserts are characterized by low productivity and substantial unvegetated space, which is
often covered by soil microbial crust communities. Microbial crusts are important for nitrogen …

The three-dimensional structures of two types of cyanobacterium-dominated microbial mats
from meltwater ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf were as determined by using a broad suite …

Antarctic lakes are characterised by simplified, truncated food webs. The lakes range from
freshwater to hypersaline with a continuum of physical and chemical conditions that offer a …

Abstract Polar Regions (continental Antarctica and the Arctic) are characterized by a range
of extreme environmental conditions, which impose severe pressures on biological life …

This chapter explores the occurrence and dominance of cyanobacteria in some of the
harshest environments on earth, the cryosphere, where extreme cold and the near absence …

Cyanobacteria often account for a large and sometimes dominant fraction of phototrophic
biomass and primary production in high latitude lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands …