In a world where habitats are degrading and the climate is warming and becoming unpredictable, biodiversity conservation efforts and funding remain grossly inadequate. As part of a multifaceted approach to halting extinctions, shifting from preserving small, remnant populations to a practice of genetically connecting populations that recreate larger and more diverse populations is expected to be beneficial. This harnesses key...

Summary The frontiers of eukaryote life in nature are still unidentified. In this study, we analysed protistan communities in the hypersaline (up to 365 g l −1 NaCl) anoxic L'Atalante deep‐sea basin located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Targeting 18S ribosomal RNA retrieved from the basin's lower halocline (3501 m depth) we detected 279 protistan sequences that grouped into 42 unique phylotypes (99% sequence similarity). S...