Introduction
Hypersaline environments are inhabited by a great variety of microorganisms, and these are often present in extremely high community densities. Thanks to the fact that some of the most prevalent types are colored by carotenoid and other pigments, no microscope is needed to see halophilic microorganisms in environments such as saltern crystallizer brines and other salt lakes with saturating or near-saturating salt concentrations. Thus, the red-purple color of halophilic microbes can be observed throughout the northern half of Great Salt Lake, Utah.
The world of the halophilic microorganisms is highly diverse. We find representatives of the three domains of life, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya that are adapted to salt concentrations up to saturation. We know aerobic as well as anaerobic halophiles, heterotrophic, phototrophic, and chemoautotrophic types, able to transform a wide variety of substrates (Oren 2002a, b, 2006a, 2007, 2008). Among the halophiles we also encounter...
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Oren, A. (2011). Diversity of Halophiles. In: Horikoshi, K. (eds) Extremophiles Handbook. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53898-1_14
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