Microbial communities of the disappearing periglacial environment on top of Mount Kilimanjaro

There is currently no information available on microbial assemblages at high elevation on the African continent, in particular on the climate-vulnerable glaciers and periglacial soils of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Its high elevation and geographic isolation from other high mountains range makes it an ideal site to study microbial biogeography in the cold biosphere. This site is also of interest as an analogue of early Mars due to extremes such as high UV radiation, a thin atmosphere, diurnal thermal fluctuations and low water and nutrient availability. Our investigation is the first culture-independent study of this unique environment revealing a diverse and rich assemblage of bacterial and eukaryotic communities in both soil and ice. The unexpected high diversity of microbial communities on Kilimanjaro points to the importance of further study of this outpost of the cryosphere before the snows of Kilimanjaro disappear forever, which is predicted to happen in the next 30 years.