The immune response represents a suite of evolved traits that can involve energetic and evolutionary trade-offs with other energy-demanding fitness-related processes. Here, we tested the hypothesis aquatic beetles living in inland hypersaline habitats have lower capacity than freshwater congeners. Phenoloxidase activity, encapsulation antimicrobial peptide activity were compared freshwater/hype...

Magnetotactic multicellular aggregates and many-celled magnetotactic prokaryotes have been described as spherical organisms composed of several Gram-negative bacteria capable to align themselves along magnetic fields and swim as a unit. Here we describe a similar organism collected in a large hypersaline lagoon in Brazil. Ultrathin sections and freeze fracture replicas showed that the cells are...

The microbial community inhabiting Sfax solar salterns on the east coast of Tunisia has been studied by means of different molecular and culture-dependent tools that have unveiled the presence of novel microbial groups as well as a community structure different from that of other coastal hypersaline environments. We have focused on the study of the viral assemblages of these salterns and their ...

Two 454 shotgun metagenomes were sequenced from hypersaline soil samples collected in the Odiel salt marsh area in Huelva, southwestern Spain. Analysis of contigs and 16S rRNA-related sequences showed that Halobacteria, Balneolaeota, and Bacteroidetes were the dominant groups. Rhodothermaeota and Nanohaloarchaeota were also abundant.

Chemical studies of a Bacillus endophyticus isolated from a Bahamian hypersaline microbial mat led to the isolation of bacillamides B and C, new tryptamide thiazole metabolites. Bioassay-guided fractionation using a HPLC-UV-MS bioassay technique enabled the detection of these trace fermentation products, and their total structures were elucidated by combined spectroscopic techniques.

—Geese are normally herbivorous. I report an instance of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) feeding on alkali flies (Ephydra hians) at hypersaline Mono Lake, California. The bout was brief and possibly represented exploratory behavior by inexperienced birds. Received 22 December 2003, accepted