Different Responses of Bacteria and Archaea to Environmental Variables in Brines of the Mahai Potash Mine, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Salt mines feature both autochthonous and allochthonous microbial communities introduced by industrialization. It is important to generate the information on the diversity of the microbial communities present in the salt mines and how they are shaped by the environment representing ecological diversification. Brine from Mahai potash mine (Qianghai, China), an extreme hypersaline environment, is used to produce potash salts for hundreds of millions of people.

Microbial communities associated with thermogenic gas hydrate-bearing marine sediments in Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea.

Biogenic and thermogenic gas are two major contributors to gas hydrate formation. Methane hydrates from both origins may have critical impacts on the ecological properties of marine sediments. However, research on microbial diversity in thermogenic hydrate-containing sediments is limited.