Microbial Ecology of Antarctic Soils

From the abstract of one of the referenced papers - &Environmental conditions and microbiological properties from soils and lichens from Antarctica (Casey Station, Wilkes Land)&: Microbial habitats of an Antarctic coastal terrestrial environment are described. Emphasis was laid on soil with different contents of organic matter and some representative lichen species.

Parameters for this description were microclimatic conditions, organic and inorganic matter, epifluorescence microscopy, and parameters describing microbial and enzymatic activity. The data of direct measurements of bacterial standing stock (number and biomass) and of exoenzymatic activity via FDA-hydrolysis were found to be the most valuable parameters for microbiological properties. The data show significant differences with regard to nutrients and microbial activity.