Cryptic microbial communities in Antarctic deserts

摘要

The Antarctic Dry Valleys, situated in the Ross Sea region of Eastern Antarctica, are often referred to as one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Although this statement is subject to some argument, largely surrounding the issue of what "extreme" actually means, there is no arguing that the combination of macroenvironmental and microenviron-mental conditions to which organisms living in the Antarctic Dry Valleys are exposed represent a severe threat to or-ganismal survival.