Comparison of microbial communities from atmosphere and lava from two different active volcanic areas in Iceland, Surtsey and Fimmvörðuhálsi.
Aurelien Daussin, PhD student at Matís, has had a scientific article published in the journal Microorganisms (MDPI). The article is entitled "Comparison of Atmospheric and Lithospheric Culturable Bacterial Communities from Two Dissimilar Active Volcanic Sites, Surtsey Island and Fimmvörðuháls Mountain in Iceland". Matís instructors and staff Pauline Vannier and Viggó Þór Marteinsson are also co-authors of the article.
The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the diversity of culturable microbial communities in lava at two different Icelandic volcanoes, on the island of Surtsey and on Fimmvörðuhálsi, and investigate their origin. Air and lava samples were collected in 2018-2019 from both volcanic areas. The main results showed that the origin of most of the culturable microorganisms in the lava lumps came from the local environment (85%), while others have traveled far.
You can read the entire article here.