Alveolates (dinoflagellates, ciliates and apicomplexans) and Rhizarians are the most common microbial eukaryotes in temperate Appalachian karst caves.

The purpose of this study was to survey the eukaryotic microbiome of two karst caves in the Valley and Ridge physiographic region of the Appalachian Mountains. Caves are known to harbour eukaryotic microbes but their very low densities and small cell size make them difficult to collect and identify. Microeukaryotes were surveyed using two methodologies, filtering water and submerging glass microscope slides mounted in periphytometers in cave pools.

Longitudinal metabarcode analysis of karst bacterioplankton microbiomes provide evidence of epikarst to cave transport and community succession.

Caves are often assumed to be static environments separated from weather changes experienced on the surface. The high humidity and stability of these subterranean environments make them attractive to many different organisms including microbes such as bacteria and protists. Cave waters generally originate from the surface, may be filtered by overlying soils, can accumulate in interstitial epikarst zones underground, and emerge in caves as streams, pools and droplets on speleothems.

Spectroscopic and theoretical studies of UN and UN.

The low-energy electronic states of UN and UN have been examined using high-level electronic structure calculations and two-color photoionization techniques. The experimental measurements provided an accurate ionization energy for UN (IE = 50 802 ± 5 cm). Spectra for UN yielded ro-vibrational constants and established that the ground state has the electronic angular momentum projection Ω = 4.

Low energy states of NdO probed by photoelectron spectroscopy.

The ionization energy (IE) of NdO and the low-energy electronic states of NdO have been examined by means of two-color photoionization spectroscopy. The value obtained for the IE, 5.5083(2) eV, is 0.

Spectroscopic and theoretical studies of ThCl and ThCl.

The electronic structures of ThCl and ThCl have been examined using laser induced fluorescence and two-photon ionization techniques. Rotationally resolved spectra, combined with the predictions from relativistic electronic structure calculations, show that the ground state of the neutral molecule is Th(7s6d)Cl, XΔ. Dispersed fluorescence spectra for ThCl revealed the ground state vibrational levels v = 0-10 and low energy electronic states that also originate from the atomic ion 7s6d configuration.