Summary of Reserches

110 Pages·2013·28.99 MB·English

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST MERCIFUL,
THE MOST COMPASSIONATE
Andre Antunes
Title of presentation:
Extreme Red Sea: Life in the Deep-Sea Anoxic Brine Lakes
Abstract:
Tectonic splitting of the Arabian and African plates originated the Red Sea together
with one of the most unique, remote, and extreme environments on Earth: deep-sea
anoxic brine lakes. They combine multiple extremes namely increased salinity (7-fold),
temperature (up to 70°C), concentration of heavy metals (1,000- to 10,000-fold), and
hydrostatic pressure [1].
Despite such harsh conditions, they harbor an unexpectedly high biodiversity and are
teeming with life. Increased interest in their microbiology led to multiple recent and
ongoing studies. Highlights of this research include: the isolation, physiological charac-
terization and genome sequencing of unusual new extremophilic microbes; the identi-
fication of several novel phylogenetic lineages; and ongoing cultivation- and molecular-
based assessment of microbial community variation between and within different brines
[2-7].
The uniqueness of these environments offers a high potential for discovery of new mi-
crobes, strategies and biomolecules to cope with extreme conditions, and biotechno-
logical applications.
References
1. Antunes, et al. (2011). Microbiology of the Red Sea (and other) deep-sea anoxic
brine lakes. Environ Microbiol Rep, doi:10.1111/j.1758-2229.2011.00264.x
2. Antunes, et al. (2003). Salinisphaera shabanensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel, mod-
erately halophilic bacterium from the brine-seawater interface of the Shaban Deep, Red
Sea. Extremophiles, 7, 29–34. doi:10.1007/s00792-002-0292-5
3. Antunes, et al. (2008). Halorhabdus tiamatea sp. nov., a non-pigmented, extremely
halophilic archaeon from a deep-sea, hypersaline anoxic basin of the Red Sea, and
emended description of the genus Halorhabdus. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, 58, 215–220.
doi:10.1099/ijs.0.65316-0
4. Antunes, et al.(2008).A new lineage of halophilic, wall-less, contractile bacteria from
a brine-filled deep of the Red Sea. J Bacteriol, 190, 3580–3587. doi:10.1128/JB.01860-
07
5. Antunes, et al. (2011). Genome sequence of Halorhabdus tiamatea, the first archaeon
isolated from a deep-sea anoxic brine lake. J Bacteriol, 193, 4553–4554. doi:10.1128/
JB.05462-11
6. Antunes, et al. (2011). Genome sequence of Salinisphaera shabanensis, a gam-
maproteobacterium from the harsh, variable environment of the brine-seawater inter-
face of the Shaban Deep in the Red Sea. J Bacteriol, 193, 4555–4556. doi:10.1128/
JB.05459-11
7. Antunes, et al. (2011). Genome sequence of Haloplasma contractile, an unusual
contractile bacterium from a deep-sea anoxic brine lake. J Bacteriol, 193, 4551–4552.
doi:10.1128/JB.05461-11
Short biography:
André Antunes is an environmental microbiology researcher at the University of Minho
(Portugal), having devoted most of his research life to the study of microbial communi-
ties thriving at the environmental extremes present in the deep-sea anoxic brine lakes
of the Red Sea.
He studied Biology and received his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra
(Portugal). His PhD research focused on the deep-sea brines of the Red Sea and was
developed at the prestigious Lehrstuhl fur Mikrobiologie und Archaeenzentrum, Univer-
sity of Regensburg (Germany), and continued his research as post-doc at the University
of Coimbra (Portugal).
In 2007 he joined the University Jean Piaget (Cape Verde) as an Assistant Professor, but
in 2009 embraced the return to his research topic after joining the Red Sea Research
Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) as a post-
doctoral fellow. During this period, his research received considerable attention and has
received significant funding from external sources.
In late 2012 he joined the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho
(Portugal), as a post-doctoral fellow. He is one of the national key-representatives asso-
ciated with the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme funded “MIRRI – Microbial
Resource Research Infrastructure” project.
His main research interests focus on the environmental microbiology of marine and
extreme environments in the Red Sea and elsewhere. He is particularly interested in
microbial biodiversity and adaptations to extreme conditions.
Elke Bojanowski
Title of presentation:
Studying a pelagic predator from recreational dive vessels - data on oceanic whitetip
sharks in the Egyptian Red Sea from 2004 – 2012
Abstract:
More than 25.500 underwater images and videos of oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhi-
nus longimanus) from the Egyptian Red Sea were collected and analysed over the
course of more than eight years. From 2004 to 2012, close to 700 divers submitted this
material for photo-identification purposes, accompanied by information on the date and
the place it was taken.
The white markings on the first dorsal fin were the main identifying feature, followed by
those on the lower tail lobe. To date, a total of 701 ID-numbers were assigned to indi-
vidual oceanic whitetip sharks. The number of individuals identified per calendar year
ranged from 170 (in 2005) to 20 (in 2011).
Details on sighting seasonality and locations, sex ratios, and resighting rates are given
for a subset of 516 shark individuals. Utilising divers as volunteers for scientific data
collection has proven extremely fruitful.
But despite the wealth of information collected from recreational diving vessels in the
Egyptian Red Sea, important basic questions remain unanswered, such as major food
sources and feeding behaviour, location of breeding and nursery grounds, and potential
large-scale migration patterns. Modern tracking and tagging devices could close these
gaps in our understanding of this formerly abundant pelagic predator, whose dwindling
numbers worldwide lend a certain urgency to our research and shark protection in the
whole Red Sea.
Short biography:
After growing up in West-Berlin, Germany, Elke studied biology at the free university of
Berlin. Having focused on animal behavior, physiology and ecology, she conducted the
research for her Master’s thesis and dissertation at Dolphin Reef Eilat, Israel, from June
1994 to 2000. This involved observing and recording the social and acoustic behavior
of a group of Black Sea bottlenose dolphins underwater, as well as managing the new
research lab and holding one-week courses on dolphin biology for volunteers.
After finishing her dissertation, Elke decided to combine diving with biological field work
and started working as a biologist and dive guide on Egyptian liveaboards in April 2004.
It was about 6 months into this job that she encountered oceanic whitetip sharks for
the first time, which inspired the establishment of the longimanus-project, an ongoing
photo-identification study on this shark species that has collected more than 25.500
underwater images and videos.
Her independent shark research has expanded since, including two additional identifi-
cation catalogues (for grey reef and silky sharks) and a general shark monitoring pro-
gramme.
In April 2012, Elke became Research Director and Trustee of the newly established Red
Sea Sharks Trust, which seeks to support shark conservation through research and
Sarah Searight Lush
Title of presentation:
A historical overview of Aden’s water provision
Abstract:
ADEN’S WATER|: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW –
Sarah Searight, British Foundation for the Study of Arabia, editorial board of SOAS/LMEI
This paper is devoted to the history of water provision in Aden, a major Indian Ocean/
Red Sea entrepot for millennia. The provision of water is a top priority all over the Ara-
bian peninsula, and an acute problem in Yemen. But here I am concerned with the his-
tory of water provision and storage in Aden with an average annual rainfall of 39 mm.
The paper looks at the pre-Islamic period and the celebrated tanks - saharij, the medi-
eval period and the relatively modern period when it became part of the British chain of
communications via Suez with India. All of which is related to the importance of Aden
within the trade system of the Indian Ocean.
The ancient tanks consist of a series of dams, channels and cisterns hollowed out of
the volcanic rock of the main wadi – Tawilah –that runs down from a plateau below the
summit of Jabal Shamsan; they were traditionally attributed to the Persian occupation
of Aden in the sixth century CE but more probably – given the relatively profusion and
skill of water harvesting all over ancient Yemen - date from the 1st millennium BCE.
The paper looks at some of these water systems but more particularly at the intricate
storage system of the tanks. Other sources of water included wells dug into the rock
on which the town was built, as well as supplies brought in from wells on the mainland
in camel loads as well as by aqueduct. The tanks were rediscovered by the British after
their occupation of Aden in 1839, but poorly restored. In the 1860s, with the Suez Canal
nearing completion and a dramatic increase in shipping calling at Aden (already a major
coaling station between Europe and India), the Adeni authorities encouraged the import
of condensers. Today the water crisis is greater than ever.
Short biography:
As chair of the then Society for Arabian Studies, Sarah Searight initiated the Red Sea
conferences in 1999, the first three held in the British Museum and subsequently at
Southampton and Exeter. She is a historian, mainly of the Middle East, and the author
of three related books (The British in the Middle East; Steaming East; Yemen: land and
people). Most recently she published Lapis lazuli: in pursuit of a celestial stone. She is
on the editorial board of Middle East in London, published by the London Middle East
Institute at SOAS.
Rodolfo Fattovich
Title of presentation:
Red Sea Archaeology: A Tentative Definition and Future Challenges
Abstract:
Beginning in the mid-1980s, the Archaeology of the Red Sea is emerging as an area
of investigation at the interface between different disciplines (such as, e.g., Egyptian
Archaeology, Ethiopian Archaeology, Arabian and South Arabian Archaeology, as well
as Ptolemaic-Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Archaeology) over a very long time span
from Middle Stone Age to the mid-2nd millennium CE. These investigations include both
coastal sites and shipwrecks, which are the subject of study of maritime archaeology,
and sites in the hinterland of the Arabian and African coastal plains. At present, howev-
er, the only link between the different projects is the geographical location of the single
sites in the coastal regions of the Red Sea and – in a slightly larger perspective – Gulf of
Aden without a perception of the Red Sea as a specific geo-cultural region which played
a significant role in the development of the large-range network of social, economic and
cultural interactions between Europe, Africa and Asia and contributed to lay the foun-
dations of the modern global world system. In this paper, I shall try to suggest a more
precise definition of the Red Sea Archaeology as a coherent area of study and to outline
the main research topics this sub-discipline might investigate in the future.
Short biography:
Rodolfo Fattovich is professor of Ethiopian Archaeology and Egyptian Archaeology at
the University of Naples “l’Orientale,” Italy. He has conducted archaeological fieldwork
and research in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea since 1971. He has directed the Ital-
ian Archaeological Expedition in Sudan (Kassala) of the Oriental Institute, Naples, Italy
(1980-1995) and co-directed with Kathryn A. Bard the UNO/BU Joint Archaeological
Expeditions at Aksum, Ethiopia (1993-2003) and Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt (since
2001). In 1991, 1992, 1993-1994, 1996 he was visiting professor for archaeology, Ad-
dis Ababa University (Ethiopia), (Italian-Ethiopian University Cooperation Program) to
organize the M.A. program in archaeology at AAU. In 1999 he was visiting professor
for archaeology, Boston University, Boston, MA (USA). In 2005, 2006 he was expert
for archaeology, World Bank project for the Cultural Heritage of Ethiopia (Aksum sub-
project). In 2005, he served as expert for archaeology, UNESCO commission for the
restitution of the Obelisk of Aksum, Ethiopia. In 2008 he was expert for archaeology,
UNESCO, for the organization of the Urban Master Plan of Aksum, Ethiopia. In 2009 he
was expert for archaeology, UNESCO, for the training of tourist guides at Aksum, Ethio-
pia. In 1989 he got the award Foundation ‘Giorgio Maria Sangiorgi’ for African Studies,
Accademia dei Lincei, Roma. He has over 230 publications.
Chiara Zazzaro
Title of presentation:
The Eritrean port site of Adulis before the Byzantine trade in the Red Sea. A preliminary
archaeological assessment.
Abstract:
The archaeological site of Adulis is located 40 km south of Massawa, in Eritrea, it was
one of the most important Red Sea port for trade with the Mediterranean and the Indian
Ocean during Antiquity and it was the port town used by Aksum and other important
ancient cities of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highland approximatively from the end of the
1st century BC to the 7th century AD.
In February 2011 the National Museum of Eritrea, the Massawa Museum and Ce.R.D.O.
(Center for Research on Eastern Desert), with the collaboration of scholars from the
University of Naples “L’Orientale” and the Cattolica University of Milan, resumed excava-
tion at Adulis. The project has been promoted by the Eritrean government and private
sponsors, both interested in the valorization and promotion of this site in Eritrea and
worldwide. The project brings together the interests of local scholars engaged in the
exploitation of their archaeological heritage and that of international scholars interested
in the application of innovative methods of investigation and in the study of contacts
between East and West in the ancient world.
The excavation sector 1, in the south-west sector of the site, has as its purpose the
study of the stratigraphic sequence in order to clarify the different phases of founda-
tion, development and end of the town. The most recent phase is characterized by the
remains of collapsed walls dating approximatively to the 5th - 7th century AD, cover-
ing a period of previous constructions dating by C14 to the end of the 2nd – early 5th
century AD.