Climate change and microbial effects

Climate change speeds up microbial change - The Economic Times: "SYDNEY: Climate change could affect Antarctica's Dry Valleys more rapidly than previously expected, particularly the microbial communities in the soil, a study reveals.

"We used to think that microbial change took place slowly over centuries," said Craig Cary, professor at the University of Waikato, who led the study.

"It's important we keep documenting the current biodiversity in Antarctica so we can predict the effects of climate change," said Cary, the journal Nature Communications reported.

To do this, the researchers transferred a 250-year-old carcass to an untouched site and used community DNA fingerprinting and new sequencing techniques to track the changes in microbial composition and structure. "

'via Blog this'