Microorganism populations blanketed by Colorado's snow are a lot more active and diverse than previously thought, according to findings by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Christopher Schadt, lead author of a paper published in the Sept. 5 issue of Science. The discovery is significant because it should help scientists gain greater insight into decomposition rates, carbon cycles and perhaps the roles of individual fungi in these processes. Surprisingly, tundra soil - about the top 10 centimeters reaches its annual peak number of active microorganisms beneath the snow. This is significant because snow-covered microbial metabolism is an important biogeochemical sink for nitrogen, and the subsequent release of microbial nitrogen in the spring is a major contributor to high primary productivity during the short growing season in the tundra. Schadt and colleagues at the University of Colorado and San Diego State University also found that fungi account for most of the biomass, which undergoes significant seasonal changes. And the researchers discovered that about 40 percent of the fungi in their samples were previously unknown. DNA sequencing enabled them to make the identifications.
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