Gokul, Jarishma K.Valverde, AngelTuffin, Marla I.Cary, Stephen CraigCowan, Don A.2013-04-222013-04-222013-02-22Gokul, JK, Valverde, A, Tuffin, M, Cary, SC & Cowan, DA (2013)' Micro-eukaryotic diversity in hypolithons from Miers Valley', Antarctica.Biology 5: 331-340.2079-773710.3390/biology2010331http://hdl.handle.net/2263/21347The discovery of extensive and complex hypolithic communities in both cold and hot deserts has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance in terms of regional productivity. However, most hypolithic research has focused on the bacterial elements of the community. This study represents the first investigation of micro-eukaryotic communities in all three hypolith types. Here we show that Antarctic hypoliths support extensive populations of novel uncharacterized bryophyta, fungi and protists and suggest that well known producer-decomposer-predator interactions may create the necessary conditions for hypolithic productivity in Antarctic deserts.10 p.PDFen© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution licenseAntarcticaMicro-eukaryotesHypolithsArticle