Contributed by Katarzyna Marcisz How do testate amoeba communities respond to fire? How does burning affect this group of microorganisms and the environment where they occur in exceptionally high abundance – Sphagnum peatlands? Answering these questions is crucial, as fire has a significant impact on peatland ecosystems. Peatlands are an important carbon pool, containing 1/3 […]
Testate amoebae on fire Read More »
Contributed by Daniel Puppe Silicon is the second most common element in the Earth’s crust (after oxygen) and the seventh most abundant element in the universe. That means we can find silicon almost everywhere. Silicon plays a pivotal role in diverse living organisms comprising pro- and eukaryotes accumulating biogenic silicon in various siliceous structures
Testate amoebae and their influence on (global) silicon cycling Read More »
Sampling testate amoebae in a tropical peatland. A recent paper in Microbial Ecology by Swindles et al. suggests that testate amoebae have good potential as hydrological indicators in tropical peatlands. Testate amoebae have been successfully used as indicators of past changes in peatland hydrology, particularly ombrotrophic (i.e., nutrients derived exclusively from precipitation) peatlands of
Tropical testate amoebae as hydrological indicators? Read More »
Contributed by Matt Amesbury The use of testate amoebae as a proxy for past changes in the hydrological status of peatlands has become ever more popular over the past two decades. Studies have been carried out over an increasing geographical range covering most major areas of northern hemisphere peatlands as well as in Patagonia
Testate amoebae from the end of the earth! Read More »
Testate amoebae have an extraordinarily long fossil record, with the oldest known fossils 750 to 700 million years old (Porter and Knoll, 2000; Bosak et al. 2011; Corsetti et al. 2003); however, knowledge of the evolutionary history of these single-celled organisms is surprisingly spotty. In a recent paper in the journal Protist, Barber et al.
50 million-year-old testate amoebae Read More »
