Prokaryotic niche diversity

Archaea and Bacteria can grow in low temperature environments example for, the Ant- arctic bacterium Flavobacterium frigidarium isolated from marine sediments can grow at 4^?C as can an archaeon isolated nearby Methanococcoides burtonii as well as high temperature ones. The highest known temperature allowing growth of a Bacterium is 95^?C Aquifex pyrophilus isolated from an Icelandic marine thermal vent by the archaeon Pyrolobus  fumarii will grow at 113^?C. Archaea and Bacteria are found in most places in the biosphere. They have become adapted to use a broad variety of compounds as sources of energy and carbon and may be adapted to use those anthropogenically produced chemical compounds as well. The range of metabolic diversity means that microorganisms dominate nutrient cycling processes in almost every ecosystem. This role in the cycling of elements has led Archaea and Bacteria to form very close associations with their peers as well as with plants and animals. The close nature of their commensalism, parasitism and symbiosis mean which pure cultures of several Bacteria and Archaea are extremely difficult to grow in the laboratory. These viable but nonculturable microorganisms can only be detected in biotopes using visualization methods such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or indirect PCR-based methods now known as environmental genomics.