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Water relations and photosynthesis in the cryptoendolithic microbial habitat of hot and cold deserts

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Abstract

Two cryptoendolithic microbial communities, lichens in the Ross Desert of Antarctica and cyanobacteria in the Negev Desert, inhabit porous sandstone rocks of similar physical structure. Both rock types adsorb water vapor by physical mechanisms unrelated to biological processes. Yet the two microbial communities respond differently to water stress: cryp-toendolithic lichens begin to photosynthesize at a matric water potential of −46.4 megaPascals (MPa) [70% relative humidity (RH) at 8°C], resembling thallose desert lichens. Cryptoendolithic cyanobacteria, like other prokaryotes, photosynthesize only at very high matric water potentials [> −6.9 MPa, 90% RH at 20°C].

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Author notes

  1. Robert J. Palmer Jr.

    Present address: Institut für Allgemeine Mikrobiologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universtität, D-2300, Kiel, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polar Desert Research Center and Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, 32306-2043, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

    Robert J. Palmer Jr. & E. Imre Friedmann

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  1. Robert J. Palmer Jr.
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  2. E. Imre Friedmann
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Palmer, R.J., Friedmann, E.I. Water relations and photosynthesis in the cryptoendolithic microbial habitat of hot and cold deserts. Microb Ecol 19, 111–118 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02015057

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