Salinity-Temperature Relations and Morphotypes of a Mixed Population of Coccoid Cyanobacteria from a Hot, Hypersaline Pond in Israel

Abstract. A mixed population of unicellular and colonial cyanobacteria was transferred into culture from a hypersaline helio-thermal pond in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. The entire complex of strains, incubated in Dead Sea water of varying salinity and temperature, showed a pronounced shift of the maximal growth from a salinity of 72 g l^-1 at 30 ^oC up to 142 g 1^-1 at 50 ^oC. Over the above range of salinities and temperatures, these cyanobacteria were capable of about four divisions per day, providing that any increase in salinity was coupled with the suitable increase in temperature. The above peculiar adaptation can explain the prominent success of this group of microorganisms in the extreme and unstable ecological conditions of hypersaline habitats. Amounts of slime accumulating in the cultures were proportional to the incubation temperature.