MICROBIAN

The scarce ice-free areas in Antarctica are among the most extreme terrestrial environments on Earth. Life in these places is dominated by microbes. As a consequence, foodwebs are strongly truncated, with few metazoans consuming organic matter and microbial biomass. Elucidating the factors that shape the biodiversity of these microbiomes and control their contribution to biogeochemical processes, provides the scientific basis for habitat mapping and classification, for developing conservation strategies, for guiding long-term monitoring efforts and for predicting their possible response to future environmental changes. This project aimed at assessing the main abiotic and biotic factors shaping the biological crust and microbial mat communities as well as at uncovering putative keystone taxa, which importance may be crucial for the entire ecosystem functioning.