Deep-sea hypersaline anoxic lakes (DHALs) of the Eastern Mediterranean represent some of the most hostile environments on our planet. We investigated microbial life in the recently discovered Lake Medee, the largest DHAL found to-date. Medee has two unique features: a complex geobiochemical stratification and an absence of chemolithoautotrophic Epsilonproteobacteria, which usually play the prim...

All tested strains of halophilic archaebacteria of the genera Halobacterium, Haloarcula, Haloferax, and Natronobacterium lysed in 1% Bacto-Peptone (Difco) containing 25% NaCl, whereas no lysis was observed with other strains belonging to archaebacteria of the genera Halococcus, Natronococcus, and Sulfolobus, methanogenic bacteria, and moderately halophilic eubacteria. Substances in Bacto-Pepton...

A significant example of technological spin-off from the GEOSTAR project is the special-purpose instrumented module, based on the deep-sea ROV MODUS, developed in the framework of the EU-sponsored project BIODEEP. The goal to be achieved has been defined as the exploration of the deep hypersaline anoxic basins of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea through real-time video images, measurements and acc...

Cyanotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria, of varied chemical nature and toxic effects. Although cyanobacteria thrive in all kinds of ecosystems on Earth even under very harsh conditions, current knowledge on cyanotoxin distribution is almost restricted to freshwaters from temperate latitudes. In this review, we bring to the forefront the presence of cyanotoxins in extreme...

The occurrence and distribution of clinically relevant bacterial virulence genes across natural (non-human) environments is not well understood. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of homologs to bacterial human virulence genes in a variety of ecological niches to better understand the role of natural environments in the evolution of bacterial virulence. Twenty four bacterial virulence genes...

A suite of oils and bitumens from the Eocene Shahejie Formation (Es) in Dongying Depression was geochemically characterized to illustrate impact source input redox conditions on distributions pentacyclic terpanes. The Es4 developed under highly reducing, sulfidic hypersaline conditions, while Es3 formed dysoxic, brackish freshwater conditions. Oils derived are enriched C32 homohopanes (C32H), t...

Deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs) are uniquely stratified polyextreme environments generally found in enclosed seas. These select for elusive and widely uncharacterized microbes that may be living below the currently recognized window of life on Earth. Still, there is strong evidence highly specialized active microbial communities Kryos, Discovery, Hephaestus located Eastern Mediterran...

Within the framework of hypersaline environments, Saline di Tarquinia salterns (Latium, Italy) represent an interesting case study from ecological, naturalistic, and conservationist perspectives. We studied macrozoobenthic community zonation related to main environmental parameters, with particular emphasis on beetle species Nebrioporus ceresyi (Aubé, 1836), one few Dytiscidae among Italian fau...

Virtual geographic environments (VGE) are environments pertaining to the relationship between post-humans and 3-D virtual worlds. Post-humans are defined as a combination of humans in the real world with 3-D avatars in 3-D virtual worlds. Five types of space, namely Internet space, data space, 3-D graphical space, personal perceptual and cognitive space, and social space are used to explore the...

In this paper, we address two challenging issues underlying spatial cognitive simulation using software agents immersed in Virtual Geographic Environments (VGE). First, the way to describe virtual VGE models using accurate spatial decomposition approaches structured using graph theory techniques. Second, the use of graph abstraction techniques to realistically support advanced navigation and pa...