Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figures
Figure S1. (A to C) Photos of the Himalayan sampling sites: (A) just below the highest sites
with researchers (for scale) standing at approximately 5500 m.a.s.l., at the top of a SE facing
slope; (B) closeup of a mid-elevation site (SE facing slope, red boulder to the right is about 2
meters in length); (C) SE facing slope at the lowest sampling area in Zun Tal Valley (red boulder
in the middle of picture is about 4 meters in length). Photo credits: (A) Laszlo Nagy; (B, C)
Debendra Karki.
Fig. S1 A.
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Fig. S1 B.
Fig. S1 C.
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Figure S2. Bayesian consensus tree of cyanobacterial 16S rDNA from high elevation soils of
the Himalayas, Colorado and Perú. Bayesian posterior probabilities indicate clade support where
values are >80. Clade names are following recent taxonomic and molecular treatments of the
cyanobacteria (Hoffmann et al. 2005). Sequences from Thermus thermophilus (EF095713)
and Deinococcus radiopugnans (Y11224) were used as out groups to root the tree.
Symbols following each regional name represent the relative abundance of each clade; circles
(x10), stars (x5) and triangles (x3). Accession numbers for sequences used in the tree are as
follows: Nodularia sphaerocarpa AJ781140, Aphanizomenon gracile AY354194,
Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii AB115489, Tolypothrix sp. AM230668, Anabaenopsis
circularis AF247595, Nostoc sphaeroides EU178144 Nostoc sp. Pannaria cyanobiont
EF174228, Stigonema ocellatum AJ544082, Scytonema hofmanni AF132781, Symphyonema
sp. AJ544083, Chlorogloeopsis fritschii AB093489, Phormidium autumnale DQ493873,
Microcoleus vaginatus str. PCC 9802 AF284803, Oscillatoria lutea AB115967,
Trichodesmium tenue AF013029, Arthrospira fusiformis AY672721, Lyngbya aestuarii
AB039013, Planktothrix agardhii AB045902, Woronichinia naegeliana AJ781043, Snowella
litoralis AJ781041, Microcystis aeruginosa U03402, Cyanothece sp. AF132771,
Dermocarpella incrassata AJ344559, Xenococcus sp. EF545606, Stanieria cyanosphaera
AF132931, Halospirulina tapeticola Y18791, Rocky Mountain Sandstone Endolith
EF522247, Prochlorococcus marinus subsp. Pastoris BX548174, Synechococcus sp.
AY172805, Cyanobium sp. AM710372, Limnothrix redekei AJ580007, Pseudanabaena sp
AM259268.
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Fig. S2
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Figure S3. Bayesian consensus tree of algal 18S rDNA phylogeny from high elevation soils of
the Himalayas, Colorado, Antarctica, and the Arctic. Bayesian posterior probabilities are shown
at all nodes. The tree was rooted with an out group containing sequences from Syntrichia ruralis
(AF023682), and Encalypta ciliata (AF223011).
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Fig. S4. Geographic distance by genetic distance relationships for the dominant cyanobacterial
clade (M. vaginatus) from the high Himalayas compared to all sequences (N = 3828 pairwise
comparisons) in the same clade from Artic, Antarctic, Andean and Rocky Mountain sites. There
was a significant (p < 0.0003, Mantel test) increase in genetic distance with geographic distance.
The largest geographic distance in this study was between the Himalayan and Colorado sites
(19,000 km). Circles size is proportional to the number of pair-wise comparisons at each point
on the graph; with bin sizes of 2, 3, 4, 8 and  65 for the smallest through largest circles,
respectively.
References
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Hoffmann L, Komáek J, Kaštovsk´y J (2005) System of cyanoprokaryotes (cyanobacteria) –
state in 2004. Algological Studies 117: 95-115
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