Vasiliki Lamprinou

• B.Sc., Ph.D.
• National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The study of microbial mats in extreme environments is of high scientific interest from geological, ecological, and geomicrobiological aspects. These mats represent multilayer bio-structures where each taxonomic group dominates a specific vertical layering distribution resulting from its growth and metabolic activity. In the present study, microbia...

Cyanobacteria are considered to be among the first microorganisms to settle in hot springs where they form a favourable environment for further biological establishment. Nevertheless, the exact pioneer species and how early they start participating in the biomineralisation processes remain unknown. The aim of the present study was twofold, i.e. to...

The aim of this study is to identify the biomineralisation processes in hot springs of North‐West Euboea Island by assessing the physico‐chemical parameters of the hot water, the travertine mineralogical composition and facies, and the cyanobacterial microflora. In the studied area, the main mineral phases are calcite and aragonite, creating lamina...

The idea that 'everything is everywhere, but the environment selects' has been seminal in microbial biogeography, and marine phytoplankton is one of the prototypical groups used to illustrate this. The typical argument has been that phytoplankton is ubiquitous, but that distinct assemblages form under environmental selection. It is well established...

Based on aspects of the classical LM morphology, and a combination of ultrastructural and molecular data, a new truebranched cyanobacterium, i.e. Spelaeonaias floccida Lamprinou, Christodoulou, Hernández-Mariné et Economou-Amilli, gen. Nov. Sp. Nov., is described from the Greek cave Vlychada (part of the ‘Diros’ cave complex, Peloponnese, Greece)....

Cave Cyanobacteria - thriving in an ‘extreme’ environment with interesting species biodiversity - are supposed to be a potential source of bioactive compounds. Lipid extracts from pure cultures of two recently established Cyanobacteria from Greek caves, Toxopsis calypsus and Phormidium melanochroun, were used for antibacterial screening against hum...

The present paper deals with the investigation of abiotic and biotic influence on thermogenic travertine formation in Thermopylae hot springs, one of the largest active thermogenic travertine systems in Greece. Geological, mineralogical and microbiological data from three different types of travertines (cascades, terraces and fluvial crusts) reveal...

The karst cave ‘Vlychada’ of Diros, one of the oldest show caves in Peloponnese, sustains extended phototrophic biofilms on various substrata – on rocks inside the cave including speleothems, and especially near the artificial lighting installation (‘Lampenflora’). After a survey of the main abiotic parameters (Photosynthetically Active Radiation -...

The karst cave ‘Vlychada’of Diros, one of the oldest show caves in Peloponnese, sustains extended phototrophic biofilms on various substrata – on rocks inside the cave including speleothems, and especially near the artificial lighting installation (‘Lampenflora’). After a survey of the main abiotic parameters (Photosynthetically Active Radiation -P...

The type of branching is a morphological character of great significance, separating taxa within the true–branched cyanobacteria. In this paper, true–branched morphospecies of cyanobacteria belonging to genus Iphinoe Lamprinou et Pantazidou, from different and geographically isolated caves of Greece, were investigated by coupling classical approach...

Specimens of cyanobacteria were collected from three geographically distant caves in Greece, and an interesting species of the Oscillatoriales was isolated and analyzed. Morphological characters were analyzed from fresh and cultured material using LM, SEM and TEM; moreover, molecular analysis based on the 16 S rRNA se- quence was applied. This cyan...

Cyanobacteria cause aesthetic damage to marble surfaces and in particular their endolithic mode of life contributes to the breakdown of rock crystalline structures. The aim of this work was to estimate, with both phenotypical and molecular approach, the composition of cyanobacterial communities on the Propylaea marbles of the Acropolis Monuments. T...

Caves and hypogean environments host various phototrophic microorganisms, with Cyanobacteria constituting the major group. The spatial and temporal distribution of Cyanobacteria (156 taxa in total) from three Greek caves, located in the limestone arc of Peloponnese and differing in morphology, was studied. The community patterns in different ecolog...

One new cyanobacterial genus Toxopsis Lamprinou & Pantazidou gen. nov. was found in fresh material of Cave 'Francthi'(Peloponnese, Greece) and isolated in cultures; additionally, ecological data of the sampling sites are provided concerning the environmental parameters [Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), Temperature (T), Relative Humidity (...

Caves have generally been found to host phototrophic micro-organisms from various taxonomic groups, with cyanobacteria comprising an important group that have adapted to these stable and highly specific environments. A polyphasic study based on aspects of classical morphology and molecular data revealed two new monospecific genera from fresh materi...

The present paper deals with biocommunities of cave Leontari, Attica (Greece) focusing on its lithophytic cyanobacteria, and the associated microfauna. The cave is of archaeological importance, not touristically exploited, naturally lighted through the entrance; it consists of one chamber with poor stalactite and stalagmite limestone decoration. Du...