Abstract

Thermophilic microbial mats examined in this study were obtained from nine thermal springs along a latitudinal gradient from Costa Rica (10º N), down to South Shetland Islands in Antarctica (62º S). Bacterial community structure shifts were analyzed according to the geographic distance (maximum of 8500 km), and temperature differences (maximal difference of 38º C) between samples. Based on community level bacterial diversity by means of pyrosequenced 16S ribosomal DNA, temperature probed to influence the microbial diversity much more than isolation by geographical barriers.