Context
Kerguelen Archipelago (also known as Desolation Island) is a remote inhospitable island and one of the hottest polar hydrothermal areas, located halfway between Antarctica and the African continent in the South Indian Ocean. Many hot springs and fumaroles, which are fueled by magna beneath the island, support thermophilic procaryotic communities.
Where do they come from? Are they able to disseminate in the atmosphere ?
In order to determine if thermophilic microorganisms could be transported through airborne processes and colonize new environments, diversity assessments of the communities present in hot water were performed and fumaroles and aerosols were collected in the vicinity of the hydrothermal fields
