The Social Life of Poly-Extremophiles: Elucidating Community Assembly, Stability and Interactions within a Unique Acidic Hypersaline Environment

Microbial life exists in complex communities consisting of thousands of microbial species. These microbes interact in negative or positive interactions, which play a vital role in the stability and functioning of the community. This thesis fills the knowledge gap present in the research of microbial interactions of poly-extremophiles using culture independent and culture dependent techniques in a natural poly-extreme environment, Lake Magic, an acid saline lake. This study shows that as stress increases in an environment, the microbial interactions become more positive. These findings answer essential questions in the interdisciplinary fields of microbial ecology and synthetic microbial ecology.