TABLE 2.
Observed optimum salinities for phototrophs in various layers and for the sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogenic bacteria in the crust and optimum salinities for representative organisms of each group as described previously
| Layer | Dominant organisms
|
Representative organism
|
Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxon | Optimum salinity (‰)a | Taxon | Optimum salinity (‰) | ||
| Brown | Unicellular cyanobacteria | 180-240 | Halothece cluster | 15-250b | 14 |
| Green | Filamentous cyanobacteria | 80-230 | Oscillatoria limnetica | 6-15b | 15 |
| Halospirulina cluster | 35-200b | 24 | |||
| Purple | Chromatiaceae | 120 | Halochromatium salexigens | 100-120b | 7 |
| Sulfidic sediment | Sulfate reducers | 80-120 | Desulfocella halophila | 40-50a | 3 |
| Natural population from Great Salt Lake | 120a | 4 | |||
| Methanogens | 140-180 | Methanohalobium evestigatum | 250b | 38 | |
a
Based on metabolic rates.
b
Based on growth rates.