The Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, is the world’s driest non-polar desert. It’s so arid that it’s even been used by NASA to test its Mars rovers on.
While some animals can be found at the desert’s shoreline and coastal river valleys, extreme conditions make most of its core uninhabitable.
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But new research from the University of Cologne, published in Nature Communications, has revealed that its soil is teeming with life.
As part of the study, a team of researchers took soils samples of approximately 500g from six different locations in the Atacama Desert.
The locations had varying levels of moisture, UV radiation, salinity and vegetation, and included dune systems, high-altitude mountains, saline lakes, river valleys and fog oases.
When the researchers analysed the samples, they discovered that the soil contained communities of nematodes.
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A hidden ecosystem
Nematodes are classified in the same group of organisms as arthropods and tardigrades, which have a reputation for being very hardy.
Nemotodes can certainly adapt to extreme environments, such as the deep sea, Antarctica and mines that stretch kilometres down into the Earth. However, despite their abundance, previously published records of nematodes in the Atacama Desert are based on single or very few individuals.
When identifying and sequencing the collected nematodes, the researchers classified 21 families and 36 genera – far more diverse than previously thought.
They also discovered that fewer genera were predicted to occur in the desert’s hyper-arid core, with greater numbers in the more humid Altiplano region. Mean annual precipitation and seasonal temperature variation had a strong, consistent influence on genus richness prediction.
Nematodes can produce sexually or asexually, depending on the species. Asexually producing nematodes were more prevalent in the higher altitudes of the Atacama Desert, while sexually producing ones were found in lower altitudes, such as coastal environments.
Overall, the team’s results show that stable soil communities exist even in the most extreme environments.
“In light of increasing global aridity, these results are becoming increasingly relevant,” says Philipp Schiffer, from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology and one of the study’s authors.
“Understanding how organisms adapt in extreme environments and which environmental parameters cause them to spread can help to improve estimation of the ecological consequences of climate change.”
The team recognised that some results indicated poor soil food web function, suggesting that those areas were already damaged and potentially more susceptible to further disruption.
However, they hope that the research will help to inform predictions about soil resilience under aridification.
Top image: the Gran Duna in Valle de la Luna, Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: Lola L. Falantes/Getty Images
