Evidence is accumulating to challenge the paradigm that biogenic methanogenesis, considered a strictly anaerobic process, is exclusive to archaea. We demonstrate that cyanobacteria living in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments produce methane at substantial rates under light, dark, oxic, and anoxic conditions, linking methane production with light-driven primary productivity in a globally relevant and ancient group of photoautotrophs. Methane production, attributed to cyanobacteria using stable isotope labeling techniques, was enhanced during oxygenic photosynthesis. We suggest that the formation of methane by cyanobacteria contributes to methane accumulation in oxygen-saturated marine and limnic surface waters. In these environments, frequent cyanobacterial blooms are predicted to further increase because of global warming potentially having a direct positive feedback on climate change. We conclude that this newly identified source contributes to the current natural methane budget and most likely has been producing methane since cyanobacteria first evolved on Earth.

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The thermal springs of Zerka Ma'in, with waters emerging at temperatures up to 63 degrees C, have been of interest to biologists already from the beginning of the 19th century. These waters, springing out from below ground and flowing into the hypersaline Dead Sea, form an isolated environment from a biogeographic point of view. We have investigated the molecular diversity of the cyanobacteria in the springs. The diversity discovered was large, defining operational taxonomic units (OTUs) by a cutoff of 97% similarity; 10 major OTUs were found, including an as yet unidentified cluster of cyanobacteria. The various patterns of similarities of our sequences to others obtained from different thermal environments worldwide led us to rethink the common theories in biogeography. Based on the data obtained, we suggest that there is no constant geographical separation of microorganisms; however, local speciation does occur at a rate dictated mainly by local community dynamics and the rate of entrance of new organisms into the ecosystem.

The difficulty of completely eliminating micro-organism contaminating water used for dental treatment and the resulting biofilm suggest that flushing of DUWL can be a first solution in reducing L. pneumophila counts, while the incorporation of a disinfection method is highly recommended. Water heating and softening should be considered in practicing dentistry as factors that may aid in L. pneumophila proliferation inside the DUWL.

86.7% of the dental units were contaminated with P. aeruginosa, the conservative dentistry units had the highest amount of contamination. Flushing the DUW for 2 min significantly reduced the counts of P. aeruginosa.

AbstractEvidence is accumulating to challenge the paradigm that biogenic methanogenesis, traditionally considered a strictly anerobic process, is exclusive to Archaea. Here we demonstrate that Cyanobacteria living in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments produce methane at substantial rates under light and dark oxic and anoxic conditions, forming a link between light driven primary productivity and methane production in globally relevant group of phototrophs. Biogenic methane production was enhanced during oxygenic photosynthesis and directly attributed to the cyanobacteria by applying stable isotope labelling techniques. We suggest that formation of methane by Cyanobacteria may contribute to methane accumulation in oxygen-saturated surface waters of marine and freshwater ecosystems. Moreover, in these environments, cyanobacterial blooms already do, and might further occur more frequently during future global warming and thus have a direct feedback on climate change. We further highlight that cyanobacterial methane production not only affects recent and future global methane budgets, but also has implications for inferences on Earth’s methane budget for the last 3.5 billion years, when this phylum is thought to have first evolved.

The meteorological data such as rainfall and temperatures, covering the period between 1979 and 2008, has been analyzed. The data were simulated using the geographic information systems (GIS) and computer software "MATLAB". The output results were converted into geographical maps. Three parameters were analyzed: annual mean maximum temperature, annual mean minimum temperature, and mean annual rainfall during the period . The analyzed results were also used to forecast for the period (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018).The results show that no change has occurred in the mean annual rainfall in both northern and eastern part, while it has increased in the central region of Jordan. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, but over the past 50 years, the mean local temperature in Jordan has increased rapidly since 1992 by 1.5-2 • C.It is noticed from the data that the change in both maximum and minimum temperatures has clearly begun after 1991, in which this phenomenon may give an indication of changing point in climate of Jordan. As for prediction is concern, the show continuous increase in both maximum and minimum temperatures in the eastern, northern and southern regions of Jordan.The application of GIS in this study was successfully used to analyze the data and to produce 'easy to use' maps to understand the impact of global warming. This application is the first in terms of its applicability in Jordan. The authors believe that the results of this study will be of great help to the decision makers in the field of environment in Jordan.

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