Patterns of protist distribution and diversification in alpine lakes across Europe.

Biogeography in Europe is known to be crucially influenced by the large mountain ranges serving as biogeographical islands for cold-adapted taxa and geographical barriers for warm-adapted taxa. While biogeographical patterns are well-known for plants and animals in Europe, we here investigated diversity and distribution patterns of protist freshwater communities on a European scale (256 lakes) in the light of the well-studied post-glacial distribution patterns of macroorganisms. Thus, our study compared 43 alpine protist communities of lakes located in the Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees, and the Sierra Nevada with that of surrounding lowland lakes.

Centers of endemism of freshwater protists deviate from pattern of taxon richness on a continental scale.

Here, we analyzed patterns of taxon richness and endemism of freshwater protists in Europe. Even though the significance of physicochemical parameters but also of geographic constraints for protist distribution is documented, it remains unclear where regional areas of high protist diversity are located and whether areas of high taxon richness harbor a high proportion of endemics. Further, patterns may be universal for protists or deviate between taxonomic groups.

Latitudinal gradient of cyanobacterial diversity in tidal flats.

Latitudinal diversity gradients are well-known for plants and animals, but only recently similar patterns have been described for some specific microbial communities in distinct habitats. Although microbial diversity is well-investigated worldwide, most of the studies are spatially too restricted to allow general statements about global diversity patterns. Additionally, methodological differences make it hard and often impossible to compare several studies.

Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in Hypersaline Cyanobacterial Mats Along a Transect in the Intertidal Flats of the Sultanate of Oman.

Hypersaline intertidal zones are highly dynamic ecosystems that are exposed to multiple extreme environmental conditions including rapidly and frequently changing parameters (water, nutrients, temperature) as well as highly elevated salinity levels often caused by high temperatures and evaporation rates. Microbial mats in most extreme settings, as found at the coastline of the subtropical-arid Arabian Peninsula, have been relatively less studied compared to their counterparts around the world. We report, here, for the first time on the diversity of the bacterial and archaeal communities of marine microbial mats along an intertidal transect in a wide salt flat with strongly increased salinity employing Illumina MiSeq technology for amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments.

Supratidal Extremophiles--Cyanobacterial Diversity in the Rock Pools of the Croatian Adria.

Hardly any molecular studies have been done on euendoliths of marine coastal environments, especially along the supratidal ranges of carbonate coasts. In our study, we provide a comparative sequence analysis using 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene combined with extensive microscopy of the endolithic community from rock pools of the Croatian Adria. Molecular diversity indices and richness estimates showed high level of diversity, particularly in high-salinity samples.