Food and energy availability cause physical changes in acid-loving microorganisms that are used to study Earth’s climate history, according to research from Dartmouth College.
Food and energy availability cause physical changes in acid-loving microorganisms that are used to study Earth’s climate history, according to research from Dartmouth College.
The finding that factors other than temperature can influence the membranes of single-celled archaea adds to the complexity of paleoclimate studies which have traditionally used the microbe’s fossilized remains to reconstruct past climate conditions.
Archaea are one of three major domains of life alongside bacteria and eukarya, the domain that includes animals and plants.
The research result, published in Environmental Microbiology, can help resolve disagreements in paleoclimate research and can support a more detailed understanding of the planet’s climate systems.
Read more at Dartmouth College
Image: Strains of acid-loving archaea thrive in extreme environments like the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. (Credit: Photo by Wil Leavitt)
