The Yellowstone Microbiology Program

The U.S. National Park System (NPS) preserves and protects the nation’s natural and cultural resources for public benefit. These resources provide unique opportunities for recreation and education, and also for advancing scientific endeavor. Archeology, botany, ecology, environmental monitoring, history, paleontology, zoology—the variety of research conducted in the national parks is extensive and, in places, intensive. Hosting over 200 research projects at any given time, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) indicates the general importance of National Parks for science. Yellowstone is particularly important, however, for the specific field microbiology. The Park’s thermal features (e.g., hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles) harbor microorganisms that withstand extreme conditions of heat and acidity. Believed to be the world’s greatest concentration of thermophilic biological diversity, Yellowstone is a strategic repository of unique genetic material.