TY  - JOUR
A1  - Genderjahn, Steffi
A1  - Alawi, Mashal
A1  - Mangelsdorf, Kai
A1  - Horn, Fabian
A1  - Wagner, Dirk
T1  - Desiccation- and saline-solerant bacteria and archaea in kalahari an sediments
JF  - Frontiers in microbiology
N2  - More than 41% of the Earth’s land area is covered by permanent or seasonally arid dryland ecosystems. Global development and human activity have led to an increase in aridity, resulting in ecosystem degradation and desertification around the world. The objective of the present work was to investigate and compare the microbial community structure and geochemical characteristics of two geographically distinct saline pan sediments in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa. Our data suggest that these microbial communities have been shaped by geochemical drivers, including water content, salinity, and the supply of organic matter. Using Illumina 16S rRNA gene sequencing, this study provides new insights into the diversity of bacteria and archaea in semi-arid, saline, and low-carbon environments. Many of the observed taxa are halophilic and adapted to water-limiting conditions. The analysis reveals a high relative abundance of halophilic archaea (primarily Halobacteria), and the bacterial diversity is marked by an abundance of Gemmatimonadetes and spore-forming Firmicutes. In the deeper, anoxic layers, candidate division MSBL1, and acetogenic bacteria (Acetothermia) are abundant. Together, the taxonomic information and geochemical data suggest that acetogenesis could be a prevalent form of metabolism in the deep layers of a saline pan.
KW  - saline pan
KW  - Kalahari
KW  - Halobacteria
KW  - Gemmatimonadetes
KW  - Firmicutes
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02082
SN  - 1664-302X
VL  - 9
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Blumroeder, J.
A1  - Eccard, Jana
A1  - Blaum, Niels
T1  - Behavioural flexibility in foraging mode of the spotted sand lizard (Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata) seems to buffer negative impacts of savanna degradation
JF  - Journal of arid environments
N2  - In this field experiment we investigate the impact of land use induced savanna degradation on movement behaviour of the spotted sand lizard (Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata) in the southern Kalahari. Foraging behaviour of lizards was tested in a factorial design (low vs. high prey availability) in degraded and non-degraded habitats.
 An interaction between habitat structure and prey availability affected movement behaviour. In degraded habitats with low prey availability and in non-degraded habitats with high prey availability the spotted sand lizard moved more like an active forager. In contrast, in degraded habitats with high prey availability and in non-degraded habitats with low prey availability lizards moved like sit-and-wait foragers. Interestingly, the behavioural flexibility of the spotted sand lizard seems to buffer extreme conditions and negative effects of land use impacts.
KW  - Kalahari
KW  - Land use
KW  - Movement ecology
KW  - Overgrazing
KW  - Shrub encroachment
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.10.005
SN  - 0140-1963
VL  - 77
IS  - 2
SP  - 149
EP  - 152
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - London
ER  -