A significant proportion of the Earth's surface is desert or in the process of desertification.
The extreme environmental conditions that characterize these areas result in a surface that …

Highlights•We detail how the application of metagenomics has changed research in extreme
environments.•We focus on microbial functionality under environmental extremes.•We …

Glacier forefields provide a unique chronosequence to assess microbial or plant
colonization and ecological succession on previously uncolonized substrates. Patterns of …

苔藓结皮是石漠化生态系统的重要地表覆被物, 但其在土壤养分累积和元素循环过程中的作用尚
不明确. 以我国贵州典型喀斯特高原峡谷石漠化区⁃ 花江大峡谷两岸不同等级石漠化生境下的 …

The Antarctica Dry Valleys are regarded as the coldest hyperarid desert system on Earth.
While a wide variety of environmental stressors including very low minimum temperatures …

The metaviromes of two distinct Antarctic hyperarid desert soil communities have been
characterized. Hypolithic communities, cyanobacterium-dominated assemblages situated on …

In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the field of virus environmental
ecology. In marine ecosystems, for example, viruses are now thought to play pivotal roles in …

Hypolithic microbial communities are specialized desert communities inhabiting the
underside of translucent rocks. Here, we present the first study of the viral fraction of these …

In hyperarid ecosystems, macroscopic communities are often restricted to cryptic niches,
such as hypoliths (microbial communities found beneath translucent rocks), which are …

The temporal dynamics of desert soil microbial communities are poorly understood. Given
the implications for ecosystem functioning under a global change scenario, a better …