Over the past 15 years there has been much effort invested in microorganisms of glacial snow and ice on the Tibetan Plateau.These studies include:phenotypic characteristics of recovered isolates;factors(dust,temperature,altitude)influencing microbial abundance,diversity and community in one glacier;distribution of bacterial number,diversity,community along ice core depth;similarities and differences of regionally distributed ice core isolates;seasonal variation of bacterial abundance and diversity.The following need further study.Better methods for more information about the diversity,survival mechanism of glacial microorganism;more research about archaea and fungi;microbial resources;relation of glacial microorganisms with biogeochemical cycle and mass balance;research on altitude distribution.
