Communities that thrive in extreme conditions captured from a freshwater lake. Extremophiles in a benign environment

Organisms that can grow in extremes conditions, that would prevent the growth of most other organisms, would be expected to be confined to extreme environments. However, we were able to capture highly productive communities of organisms, including algae and bacteria, capable of growing in acidic (pH 2), basic (pH 12) and high salinity (40 ppt) conditions from an ordinary freshwater lake, using a novel technique that can amplify very rare types. Microbial community may thus include rare types that are well adapted to conditions that appear to be far outside the range of environments available in their host ecosystem. The organisms we captured were facultative extremophiles capable of growing in both their extreme enrichment conditions and in benign conditions.