RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) -- Desert Research Institute scientists have helped co-write a study that discusses a community of bacteria living in an Antarctic lake.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and co-authored by Dr. Alison Murray and Dr. Christian Fritsen of Nevada's Desert Research Institute (DRI). DRI says the study describes a community of bacteria that survives in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated lakes of Lake Vida.
DRI says that, despite the very cold, dark and isolated nature of the habitat, the report finds that the brine harbors a surprisingly diverse and abundant assemblage of bacteria that survive without a present-day source of energy from the sun.
