Linked Life Data

18717370

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/18717370

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
Pt 2
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-8-22
pubmed:abstractText
Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are cold, dry, low nutrient environments, with large temperature fluctuations and paradoxically low levels of water availability. These extreme environments are dominated by microorganisms (viruses, archaea, eubacteria, fungi and microsporidia, alveolata, stmramenopila, rhodophyta, green algae and protists), which can either tolerate or are adapted to exploit unfavourable growth conditions. However, climate change is altering the growth environment in Antarctica, and so selection pressures on these microorganisms are changing which, in turn, might affect microbial activity in key processes such as biogeochemical cycling. Although the direct effect of a change in, for example, temperature, is known for very few Antarctic microorganisms, molecular techniques (to monitor population structure) and genomic techniques (to identify specific gene function) are starting to give us an insight into what the potential effects of climate change might be at the cellular level. The key to how microorganisms respond to such change depends upon the rate and magnitude of the change along with the physiological capability of microorganisms to adapt or tolerate those changes. Here we will examine a number of case studies in which the effects of factors such as temperature, nutrient availability, grazing, salinity, seasonal cycle and carbon dioxide concentration have each been demonstrated to affect bacterial community structure in polar and alpine ecosystems. The results suggest that the spatial distribution of genetic variation and, hence, comparative rates of evolution, colonization and extinction are particularly important when considering the response of microbial communities to climate change.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0036-8504
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
91
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
203-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Climate change and the microbiology of the Antarctic Peninsula region.
pubmed:affiliation
Biological Sciences Division, British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road Cambridge CB3 OET, UK. dpearce@bas.ac.uk
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article