The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem? - Microbiologie Environnementale Biotechnologie (MEB)
Article Dans Une Revue The International Society of Microbiologial Ecology Journal Année : 2024

The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem?

Résumé

The atmosphere may be Earth’s largest microbial ecosystem. It is connected to all of Earth’s surface ecosystems and plays an important role in microbial dispersal on local to global scales. Despite this grand scale, surprisingly little is understood about the atmosphere itself as a habitat. A key question remains unresolved: does the atmosphere simply transport microorganisms from one location to another, or does it harbour adapted, resident, and active microbial communities that overcome the physiological stressors and selection pressures the atmosphere poses to life? Advances in extreme microbiology and astrobiology continue to push our understanding of the limits of life towards ever greater extremes of temperature, pressure, salinity, irradiance, pH, and water availability. Earth’s atmosphere stands as a challenging, but potentially surmountable, extreme environment to harbour living, active, resident microorganisms. Here, we confront the current understanding of the atmosphere as a microbial habitat, highlighting key advances and limitations. We pose major ecological and mechanistic questions about microbial life in the atmosphere that remain unresolved and frame the problems and technical pitfalls that have largely hindered recent developments in this space, providing evidence-based insights to drive future research in this field. New innovations supported by rigorous technical standards are needed to enable progress in understanding atmospheric microorganisms and their influence on global processes of weather, climate, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and microbial connectivity, especially in the context of rapid global change.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
wrae092.pdf (843.02 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Publication financée par une institution
licence

Dates et versions

hal-04663494 , version 1 (28-07-2024)

Licence

Identifiants

Citer

Rachael Lappan, Jordan Thakar, Laura Molares Moncayo, Alexi Besser, James A Bradley, et al.. The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem?. The International Society of Microbiologial Ecology Journal, 2024, 18 (1), pp.wrae092. ⟨10.1093/ismejo/wrae092⟩. ⟨hal-04663494⟩
61 Consultations
4 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

More