Scientists who took soil samples say the discovery could shed light on the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
Every year, hundreds of climbers camp at South Kola on the south side of Everest, preparing to climb up in an attempt to reach the top of the world. While these adventurers may be taking home their well-deserved titles of mountain climbers, a new study shows they may also leave behind some hardy microbes that seem to be able to survive in the icy wastelands. Despite the extreme conditions on Everest, the researchers were able to cultivate bacteria and fungi isolated from the mountain’s sediments. These organisms, which are mostly dormant, may have been transported by wind or humans from less extreme areas to the South Kol snow realm, Science Alert writes.
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This study shows the impact of tourists on the world’s highest peak and may shed light on the limits of life on Earth and the potential of life on other worlds.
Mount Everest, located in the Mahalangur Himal range in the Himalayas, is higher than any other on Earth and reaches 8,849 meters above sea level.
Everest’s high altitude conditions are among the most extreme on Earth. The South Col, where a research team led by microbiological ecologist Nicholas Dragone of the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) collected soil samples, is about 7,900 feet above sea level.
Therefore, the researchers were surprised to find that even microbes that adapted to the warm and humid comfort of our respiratory tract, such as staphylococci and streptococci, were able to hibernate and survive in harsh, cold and dry conditions.
“There’s a human footprint in the Everest microbiome, even at this altitude,” says study senior author Steven Schmidt, an environmental microbiologist at UKB.
In addition to traditional culture methods, which involve growing the bacteria on nutrient-rich agar plates, the team sequenced fragments of genetic material in soil to identify specific microbes. This is reportedly the highest point at which similar specimens have ever been explored in this manner.
Team members have already studied soil samples in places like the Andes, the Himalayas and Antarctica, but they say this is the first time that samples taken at this altitude have shown definitive evidence of human-related micro-organisms.
Higher ultraviolet radiation, low temperatures and lack of water all contribute to the death of microbes at high altitude, so only the hardiest organisms can survive in a climate as hostile as this one.
Staphylococcus and streptococcus bacteria are common in soil, but the genetic sequences found in this study were identical to those of the common species that commonly colonize our skin and mouth.
Moreover, the samples were taken at a distance of about 170 meters from the place where snotty, snorting, sneezing people usually camp before taking on the summit challenge.
“We predict that if we take samples from more human-used locations on the mountain, we may find even more microbial evidence of human impact on the environment,” the team writes in their paper.
Most microbes, like those carried by humans to high altitudes, hibernate or die when exposed to such extreme conditions, but some organisms, according to previous research, can grow during short periods of water availability at high altitudes.
Since temperatures rarely rise above -10°C on South Kola, it is not known whether the scarce water from melting ice can support microbial growth, and testing microbial growth under such extreme conditions is not easy.
So, the soil on the South Kolya and other high-mountainous places can collect and freeze only those organisms that got there with air or people. Better conditions in the laboratory may be the reason that helped them grow.
However, the temperature in the Everest region is rising by about 0.33 °C per decade, and in July 2022, a record high of -1.4 °C was recorded on South Kolya. This warming trend could cause organisms that are currently inactive to become active in the future.
The authors say the newly installed weather station on South Kola may provide more information as time passes and more observations are made.
At the moment, researchers do not believe that the small amount of human microbes on Everest will have a big impact on the environment. However, this work has implications for the search for extraterrestrial life, such as if humans eventually reach Mars.
“We can find life on other planets and cold moons,” says Schmidt. “We’ll have to be careful to make sure we don’t pollute these places with our own life.”
Previously, Focus wrote about a mysterious life form that hid in the depths of the ocean. The study shows that the new find can shed light on how ancient life spread on the planet.
