In the past few decades, hydrothermal vent research has progressed immensely, resulting in higher-quality samples and long-term studies. With time, scientists are becoming more aware of the impacts of sampling on the faunal communities and are looking for less invasive ways to investigate the vent ecosystems. In this perspective, imagery analysis plays a very important role. With this study, we...

Upper abyssal to lower bathyal benthic foraminifers from ODP Sites 689 (present water depth 2080 m) and 690 (present water depth 2941 m) on Maud Rise (eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica) are reliable indicators of Maestrichtian through Neogene changes in the deep-water characteristics at high southern latitudes. Benthic foraminiferal faunas were divided into eight assemblages, with periods of faun...

In the tropical Atlantic, planktonic fomminfera species are vertically distributed with highest abundances occunfng in the photic zone (approximately 0-100 m). The tropical Atlantic thermocline dips from east to west and varies seasonally due to changes in the southeast and northeast trade winds. In the east, the thermocline is in the photic zone, and in the west, the well-mixed surface layer e...

This study describes the influence of 19 hydropedological factors on macrobenthic faunal assemblages of the Karnafuli estuary, Bangladesh during the period from September, 2011 to August, 2012. A total of 33 macrobenthic species/taxa belonging to annelids, molluscs, arthropods and other minor phyla were recorded. Spearman rank correlation (using BIO-ENV procedure included in PRIMER, V.6) showed...

The Magdalenian of southwestern France has long been renowned for the frequency with which associated faunal assemblages are dominated by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). The site of Grotte XVI (Dordogne, southwestern France) is no exception: 94% of the Magdalenian ungulate assemblage at this site is provided by reindeer. However, this figure represents the endpoint in a steadily increasing progre...

Citation: Cruaud P, Vigneron A, Pignet P, Caprais J-C, Lesongeur F, Toffin L, Godfroy A and Cambon-Bonavita M-A (2015) Microbial communities associated with benthic faunal assemblages at cold seep sediments of the Sonora Margin, Guaymas Basin. Front. Mar. Sci. 2:53. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00053 Microbial communities associated with benthic faunal assemblages at cold seep sediments of the Sonor...

Six months after the explosion of TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, radioactive silver ((110m)Ag), was detected in concentrations of 3754 Bq/kg in Nephila clavata (the orb-web spider; Joro-gumo in Japanese) collected at Nimaibashi, Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture, whereas (110m)Ag in the soil was 43.1 Bq/kg. A survey of 35 faunal species in the terrestrial environment durin...

Understanding the behavioral adaptations and subsistence strategies of Middle Paleolithic humans is critical in the debate over the evolution and manifestations of modern human behavior. The study of faunal remains plays a central role in this context. Until now, the majority of Levantine archaeofaunal evidence was derived from late Middle Paleolithic sites. The discovery of faunal remains from...

Archeological analysis of faunal remains and of lithic and bone tools has suggested that hunting of medium to large mammals was a major element of Neanderthal subsistence. Plant foods are almost invisible in the archeological record, and it is impossible to estimate accurately their dietary importance. However, stable isotope (delta(13)C and delta(15)N) analysis of mammal bone collagen provides...

Soil faunal communities are often phylogenetically diverse and the accurate assessment of the taxonomic structure of these communities is both time-consuming and requires a high level of taxonomic expertise. Here we describe a DNA sequence-based methodology for characterizing soil microand mesofaunal communities that is similar to the molecular approaches commonly used to survey soil microbial ...