Enumeration of Thermophilic Heterotrophs in Geothermally Heated Soils from Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica

Soil samples with temperatures up to 64°C were collected from Mount Erebus, an active volcano located on Ross Island, Antarctica. Acridine orange direct counts and most probable number counts of soil samples stored at 4°C for 2 months showed a wide variation in the number of thermophilic microorganisms in different soils. Organisms similar to Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum, Bacillus schlegelii, and Bacillus acidocaldarius, as well as neutrophilic Bacillus strains, were isolated.