An oligotroph is an organism that can live in a very low carbon concentration, less than one part per million.
Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates of metabolism, and generally low population density.
Low-carbon environments are ubiquitous; oligotrophs may be found a wide range of environments including in deep oceanic sediments, caves, glacial and polar ice, deep subsurface soil, aquifers, and ocean water.
The term oligotrophic is derived from the Greek term meaning "poorly nourished" and refers to an aquatic system that has low overall levels of primary production, principally because of low concentrations of the nutrients that plants require.
Oligotrophic environments are of special interest for the alternative energy sources and survival strategies life could rely upon.
An example of oligotrophic soils are those on white-sands, with soil pH lower than 5.0, on the Rio Negro basin on northern Amazonia that house very low-diversity, extremely fragile forests and savannahs drained by flwater rivers.
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