The Caspian Sea is heavily polluted due to industrial and agricultural effluents as well as extraction of oil and gas reserves. Microbial communities can influence the fate of contaminants and nutrients. However, insight into the microbial ecology of the Caspian Sea significantly lags behind other marine systems. Here we describe microbial biomass, diversity and composition in sediments collect...

S U M M A R Y The Rudbar-Tarom earthquake of 1990 June 20 (M0 = 1.4 × 1027 dyn cm), the largest one in Iran over the past 35 yr, was accompanied by a small tsunami in the Caspian Sea, which produced run-ups of up to 2 m, and inundations of 1 km, reaffirming the existence of tsunami hazard along the Caspian shoreline, as suggested by historical reports. We present the results of a field survey, ...

miankaleh biosphere reserve it has a set of marine and land ecosystems an area about 67349 ha and is located in the north of iran and southeast farthermost of caspian sea. the diversity of the natural characteristics of caspian region is the cause of diversity in the habitats, and has resulted in nesting of most plant species in the germinative range. regarding the importance of coastal ecosyst...

Historically, the ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris) occurred in Aral, Caspian, Azov, and Black Sea basins. However, its numbers decreased dramatically during 20th century. It is now considered extirpated from Seas, has almost disappeared Caspian Sea. A. nudiventris listed as Critically Endangered on IUCN Red List and, Georgia, species been undetected for last three decades. We collected 22 ...

Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on the earth. Since the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 and discovering large oil and gas fields, some issues such as political, economic and environmental events, made the Caspian Sea important. The ecology of the Sea are being endangered due to several issues such as petroleum extraction, river and sea pollutions, water level rise, biological...

Serum biochemical parameters are important aspects in the management of endangered species such as Caspiomyzon wagneri. The objective of this survey was to determine some serum ionic and metabolic parameters and those relationships in 22 migratory population of Caspian lamprey in shirood river (a river located at the south of Caspian sea). There was no significant (P<0.05) difference between le...

The objectives of study were to determine whether contaminant-associated immunosuppression occurs in prefledgling herring gulls and Caspian terns from the Great Lakes and to evaluate immunological biomarkers for monitoring health effects in wild birds. During 1992 to 1994, immunological responses and related variables were measured in prefledgling chicks at colonies distributed across a broad g...

A spectacular adaptive radiation of crustaceans has occurred in the Black, Caspian, and Aral seas. This study tests several evolutionary scenarios based on the extent of genetic differentiation and the phylogenetic relationships among endemic mysids and gammarid amphipods from the Black and Caspian seas. Molecular phylogenies for these taxa were based on two mitochondrial genes: cytochrome c ox...