Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research Editors' Choice Award
The Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research Editors' Choice Award is given annually to recognize an influential paper demonstrating research excellence contributing substantially to our understanding of physical and environmental science in cold environments. The recipient is selected by consensus of the Editors from all articles published in Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research throughout the calendar year. The first author, or their designated recipient, will receive an award of $500 in recognition of their outstanding research.
For the 2023 Editors’ Choice Award, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research is pleased to honor this exciting paper: “Genetic analysis of the frozen microbiome at 7900 m a.s.l., on the South Col of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest)” by Nicholas Dragone, L. Baker Perry, Adam Solon, Anton Seimon, Tracie Seimon and Steven Schmidt in Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 55(1): DOI:10.1080/15230430.2023.2164999. As first author, the recipient will be Nicholas Dragone, who is a Fulbright Scholar and postdoc working with Dr. Noah Fierer at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder.
This study was designed to examine high-elevation microbial communities in an extreme alpine environment, ~7900 m a.s.l on Mount Everest. This extreme terrestrial environment is exposed to strong winds, cold air temperatures, low oxygen, low atmospheric pressure and high solar insolation and UV radiation. The main goal of the project was to study the impact that high elevation has on microbial habitability and community structure. As part of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, three surface sediment samples were collected from the South Col at 7,944 m a.s.l. Gene sequencing and culture-based methods were used to identify microorganisms and to determine if they were viable and able to survive in the challenging high-elevation environment. The low microbial diversity found is consistent with previous observations of decreasing diversity with increasing elevation. Many of the bacteria and fungi identified were highly adapted organisms that can persist when exposed to extremely cold, dry conditions. However, less specialized microbes who may have been transported to the site by wind were also identified, along with many human-associated organisms who may have been brought by climbers and guides. It is likely that these contaminates may have never actually grown at the site, yet their presence raises many possibilities. It remains likely that brief periods of thaw may allow microbial activity on occasion at extreme high elevations and that ongoing climate warming may eventually allow these microbes to grow in situ.