Global deserts occupy one-third of the Earth's surface and contribute significantly to organic
carbon storage, a process at risk in dryland ecosystems that are highly vulnerable to climate …

Background The rhizosheath-root system is an adaptive trait of sandy-desert speargrasses
in response to unfavourable moisture and nutritional conditions. Under the deserts' …

Abstract The Namib Desert is one of the world's only truly coastal desert ecosystem. Until the
end of the 1st decade of the twenty-first century, very little was known of the microbiology of …

Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with surface water being only available
for very limited periods during the year. This has seen the country importing up to 70% of its …

Soil microorganisms, which include many rare taxa and a small number of abundant taxa,
have different contributions to the ecosystem functions and services. High throughput …

The hyperarid Namib desert is a coastal desert in southwestern Africa and one of the oldest
and driest deserts on the planet. It is characterized by a west/east increasing precipitation …

Hot desert surface soils are characterized by extremely low water activities for large parts of
any annual cycle. It is widely assumed that microbial processes in such soils are very …

Bacteria have been inferred to exhibit relatively weak biogeographic patterns. To what
extent such findings reflect true biological phenomena or methodological artifacts remains …

Coastal wetlands are experiencing frequent flooding because of global climate changes,
such as the rising sea level. Despite the key role of archaea in soil biogeochemical cycles …

Core Ideas Fungal diversity exhibits a longitudinal gradient in saline soils. Soil moisture,
then salinity and total potassium, were the main environmental drivers of fungal …