Microbial Survival in the Makgadikgadi Basin, Botswana

Naturally formed salt pans are found in many arid and semiarid environments on Earth, including the
USA, Australia, China and Africa. Studies have shown that certain microorganism (halophiles, i.e. salt
loving) can life within salt pan environments and survive exposure to high salinity, desiccation, daily
fluctuations in temperature and intense solar radiation.
The Makgadikgadi Basin in Botswana is the relict of a mega-paleolake system that originated during
the Pleistocene. Nowadays, the basin consists of a system of ephemeral lakes consisting of several
pans. The largest pans are the Ntwetwe Pan in the west and the Sua Pan in the East (Figure 1), each
containing distinct morphological features that are remnants of an ancient lake system. These features
have been influenced by local environmental factors such as precipitation, water inflow and aeolian
activity, and can act as a paleoclimatic archives for climate information. Preliminary work has
demonstrated that diverse microbial communities exist with the pan; however, little is known about
the ecological strategies utilized by these microbial communities in response to the environmental
challenges presented by the pan.