Professor Whyte's research projects focus on examining microbial biodiversity and ecology in the Canadian high Arctic where very unique habitats exist, using both classical microbiology and novel genomics-based molecular techniques for studying microbial communities. These habitats include unique cold saline springs, permafrost and ground ice, and ice shelf microbial matt communities. These investigations explore the biodiversity, ecology, adaptations, and activity of microbial communities at subzero temperatures in cryoenvironments (subzero habitats) in an emerging field perhaps best described as cryomicrobiology. This area is presently very poorly understood but crucial for determining if such communities are active in situ at subzero temperatures and determining the impact of such activity on global biogeochemical cycling. The utility of these unique cryoenvironments as extraterrestrial analogs for astrobiology studies is also being examined and biotechnological applications of these microorganisms will be investigated in the longer term.
