– Ancient creatures are emerging from the cold storage of melting permafrost, revealing the history of ancient ecosystems and details of their environments.
Scientists have identified dozens of unique 15,000-year-old viruses from the Guliya ice cap of the Tibetan Plateau,
potentially representing those in the atmosphere at the time of their deposit
– The melting will lead to the loss of ancient microbes and viruses and release them to the environments in the future
– 28 of the 33 viruses they identified had never been seen before, indicating they thrived in extreme environment – Bacteriophages that infect
Methylobacterium were the most abundant viruses in both ice core samples, likely originating from soil or plants and facilitating nutrient acquisition for their hosts
– Melt has also released massive reserves of sequestered methane and carbon, raising concerns about ancient viruses coming back to haunt u
– Earth scientists still have many important questions unanswered about how bacteria and viruses respond to climate change and past environmental change