Re-branding Landscapes of Forgotten Resorts. Case of the Healing Resort Kemeri in Latvia

Health resorts have been important landscape identity elements and economy drivers in European cities since the beginning of their development. The sea coastal area in Latvia is rich in sulphur springs that have been used for health procedures since 19th century. Kemeri resort in Jurmala City is known as a unique place that got its name from the forester house Kemeres where the first health procedures were performed by using sulphur spring mud. In 1836 Kemeri was declared as a resort and became known in the whole Russian Empire and later also in the Soviet Union. Significant landscape changes occurred after Latvia regained its independence in 1990, when the ownership of the land changed from the state to the private. Affected by disagreements between the new owners, lack of private and state investments, decrease of visitors from former Soviet Republics, insufficient capacity for competing with European resorts, the resorts in Latvia often became abandoned and forgotten. Historically valuable buildings and parks of the resorts were degraded, the number of inhabitants and visitors decreased. Today the regional government has found opportunities for re-development of Kemeri resort by searching for a new identity and re-branding the place. Re-branding has been used to enhance attractiveness of the place and increase economic benefits. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify historic heritage values suitable for re-branding of the place and to analyse a potential development of the resort Kemeri. Assessment part of the article is based on historic heritage study by comparing historic and modern photography, field surveys to identify historic heritage values of the place and their influence on possible development scenarios. Historic heritage values were identified according to the Historicity and authenticity; Aesthetic quality and integrity; Social meaning. The other parts of the article are addressed to re-branding of the place that includes involvement of identified historic heritage values into the new identity to enhance functionality, recognisability and attractiveness of the resort Kemeri.

ENDOPOLYPLOIDY OF ENDANGERED PLANT SPECIES LIGULARIA SIBIRICA IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

The goal of this study was to detect endopolyploidy of Ligularia sibirica from populations existed in different ecological conditions. This is important step to elaborate the appropriate protection measures of rare and endangered species, which should be based on understanding of ongoing processes in populations. From this point of view the knowledge of genetic diversity, including endopolyploidy level between and within populations, is crucial. L. sibirica is endangered and protected plant species in Latvia which is included in the protected plants list of EU Habitat directive 92/43/EEK Annexes 2 and 4. Perennial herbaceous plant L. sibirica is one of two species of genus Ligularia in Europe. According to the previous data, this species has been disappeared from all previously known locations in Latvia. However, some new locations were found in central part of the country recently. Determination of edopolyploidy level of L. sibirica was performed by the BD FACSJazz® cell sorter (BD Biosciences, USA) with flow cytometer function. In young leafs nine relative fluorescence DNA peaks from 2C up to 64 C were detected. The most common was 2C peak presented in 93% and 63% of samples from Zušu-Staiņu sulphur spring and Krustkalni Nature reserve populations respectively.

Bacterial and Archaeal Phylogenetic Diversity of a Cold Sulfur-Rich Spring on the Shoreline of Lake Erie, Michigan

ABSTRACT Studies of sulfidic springs have provided new insights into microbial metabolism, groundwater biogeochemistry, and geologic processes. We investigated Great Sulphur Spring on the western shore of Lake Erie and evaluated the phylogenetic affiliations of 189 bacterial and 77 archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences from three habitats: the spring origin (11-m depth), bacterial-algal mats on the spring pond surface, and whitish filamentous materials from the spring drain. Water from the spring origin water was cold, pH 6.3, and anoxic (H2, 5.4 nM; CH4, 2.70 μM) with concentrations of S2− (0.03 mM), SO4 2− (14.8 mM), Ca2+ (15.7 mM), and HCO3 − (4.1 mM) similar to those in groundwater from the local aquifer. No archaeal and few bacterial sequences were >95% similar to sequences of cultivated organisms. Bacterial sequences were largely affiliated with sulfur-metabolizing or chemolithotrophic taxa in Beta-, Gamma-, Delta-, and Epsilonproteobacteria. Epsilonproteobacteria sequences similar to those obtained from other sulfidic environments and a new clade of Cyanobacteria sequences were particularly abundant (16% and 40%, respectively) in the spring origin clone library. Crenarchaeota sequences associated with archaeal-bacterial consortia in whitish filaments at a German sulfidic spring were detected only in a similar habitat at Great Sulphur Spring. This study expands the geographic distribution of many uncultured Archaea and Bacteria sequences to the Laurentian Great Lakes, indicates possible roles for epsilonproteobacteria in local aquifer chemistry and karst formation, documents new oscillatorioid Cyanobacteria lineages, and shows that uncultured, cold-adapted Crenarchaeota sequences may comprise a significant part of the microbial community of some sulfidic environments.

Barite (BaSO4) biomineralization at Flybye Springs, a cold sulphur spring system in Canada's Northwest Territories

The Flybye Springs, Northwest Territories, consist of 10 active vents and numerous small seeps that discharge sulphide- and barium-rich spring waters at an average temperature 8.5 °C. Oxidation of sulphide to sulphate drives precipitation of stellate and platy barite microcrystals in the proximal flow paths. Downstream, and in vent- and tributary-fed ponds, barite is precipitated among streamer and mat forming colonies of sulphur-tolerant microbes, including Thiothrix, Beggiatoa, Thioploca, Chromatium, Oscillatoria, fungi (dominantly Penicillium), and unicellular sulphate reducing bacteria. These microbes mediate barite saturation by adjusting redox gradients and via passive adsorption of barium ions to cell surfaces and extracellular polymeric substances. Passive biomineralization produces barite laminae in floating microbial mats, nanometric coatings, and micrometric encrustations around microbial cells and filaments, and local permineralization of Thiothrix, Beggiatoa, and Oscillatoria outer cell walls. Intracellular barium enrichment and (or) metabolic sulphur oxidation may be important to "active biomineralization" that produces nanometric barite globules on the tips of fungal hyphae, barite-filled cell cavities in Beggiatoa and Thiothrix, and baritized sulphur globules. Degradation of biomineralized cells generates detrital "microfossils," including barite tunnels, layered cylinders, solid cylindrical grains and chains of barite beads. The diversity of inorganic and biomineralized barite in the Flybye Springs flow path highlights the influence of ambient chemistry, microbial metabolism, and cellular structure on barite solubility and on the taphonomy of microfossils preserved in barite.