

The water is now red
The dramatic reduction of the Lake Urnia (Iran) water volume in recent years has caused an increase of the salt concentration. As consequence of the higher salinity, the community of photosynthetic organisms inhabiting the lake has changed a well. The dramatic transformation a the deep green waters into a reddish lake is likely caused by the overabundance of the salt-tolerant chlorophycean Dunaliella salina, which is able to accumulate large amounts of carotenoid pigments th