The Alps are one of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries : Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
Austria is a predominantly mountainous country in Central Europe, approximately between Germany, Italy and Hungary. It has a total area of 83,871 square kilometres (32,383 sq mi).
Lake Constance refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (Obersee), Lower Lake Constance (Untersee), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lake Rhine (Seerhein). These waterbodies lie within the Lake Constance Basin in the Alpine Foreland through which the Rhine flows. The nearby Mindelsee is not considered part of Lake Constance.
Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into the edge of the Italian Alps, particularly the Alpine sub-ranges of the Garda Mountains and the Brenta Group. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Brescia, Verona (south-east) and Trentino (north).
Kitzbühel is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about 100 km (62 mi) east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district. Kitzbühel is one of the most famous and exclusive ski resorts in the world. It is frequented primarily by the international high society and has the most expensive real estate in Austria. The proximity to Munich has made it a preferred location for vacation homes among the German elite.
The Salzkammergut is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube.
Attersee, also known as Kammersee, English sometimes Lake Atter, is the largest lake of the Salzkammergut region in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It is Austria's third largest lake by area, surpassed only by Lake Constance and Lake Neusiedl, which, however, both of those larger lakes extend beyond national borders.
Mondsee is a town in the Vöcklabruck district in the Austrian state of Upper Austria located on the shore of the lake Mondsee. The town is home to the medieval Mondsee Abbey, whose cloister church was used for the site of the wedding in The Sound of Music.
The Central Eastern Alps, also referred to as Austrian Central Alps or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South them is the Southern Limestone Alps.
Mondsee Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Mondsee in Upper Austria.
Unterach is a village in the Austria state of Upper Austria on the southern shore of lake Attersee in the centre of the Salzkammergut region.
Lake Millstatt is a lake in Carinthia, Austria.
The Weissensee is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia within the Gailtal Alps mountain range. The highest situated Carinthian bathing lake shares its name with the municipality of Weissensee on the northern and southern shore.
The Ammergau Alps are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Bavaria (Germany) and Tyrol (Austria). They cover an area of about 30 x 30 km and begin at the outer edge of the Alps. The highest summit is the Daniel which has a height of 2,340 metres (7,680 ft).
The Mondsee group was a Neolithic Austrian pile-dwelling culture spanning the period from around the 4th millennium to 3rd millennium BCE, of particular interest due to its production of the characteristic "Mondsee copper", apparently the first in central Europe to emulate the Balkan Vinča culture.
Salvelinus umbla, also known as lake char, is a species of char found in certain lakes of the region of the Alps in Europe.
Polynucleobacter cosmopolitanus is an aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, chemo-organotrophic, nonmotile bacterium of the genus Polynucleobacter, isolated from freshwater habitats in Eurasia, South America, North America, Africa, Oceania, the Hawaiian Archipelago, in lakes located in Japan, and a river estuary of northern Taiwan. The type strain of the species was isolated from Lake Mondsee in Austria.
Polynucleobacter asymbioticus is an aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, chemo-organotrophic, nonmotile, free-living bacterium of the genus Polynucleobacter. The type strain was isolated from a small pond located in the Austrian Alps in the area of Salzburg and described as a new subspecies of Polynucleobacter necessarius in 2009. The classification of the type strain was hampered by the fact that its closest described relative represented obligate endosymbionts, i.e. P. necessarius, not available as a pure culture suitable for standard tests for delineation of prokaryotic species. Therefore, the strain was preliminarily placed in the subspecies P. necessarius subsp. asymbioticus. Later sequencing of the genome of the type strain revealed that the strain represented a novel species within the genus Polynucleobacter. Therefore, its taxonomic rank was lifted from the subspecies to the species level. Strains of P. asymbioticus dwell as planktonic organisms in acidic, humic-rich freshwater systems. Comparative genome analyses revealed that P. asymbioticus represents an atypical member of the family Burkholderiaceae regarding its small genome size and its passive lifestyle. A recent study used a collection of 37 P. asymbioticus strains isolated from various ponds located in a larger region of the Austrian Alps to gain insights in the evolution of Polynucleobacter bacteria.
Polynucleobacter duraquae is an aerobic, chemo-organotrophic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, sometimes motile, free-living bacterium of the genus Polynucleobacter, isolated from Lake Mondsee in Austria. The species represents planktonic bacteria (bacterioplankton) dwelling in alkaline freshwater systems.
Lake Grundlsee is situated at the southern foot of the Totes Gebirge in Austria, in the Styrian part of the Salzkammergut. It lies at an altitude of 708 m above sea level. The municipal seat of Grundlsee is located on the northwest shore. The outflow of the Grundlsee is the Grundlsee Traun, which drains into the Danube via the Traun. With an area of 4.22 km2, Grundlsee is the largest lake in Styria. Its location, situated in a beautiful setting, has made it an important tourist destination and a popular bathing lake, as well as a diving and sailing area. The Daffodil Festival, Austria's largest flower festival, occurs every third year at Grundlsee. A professional fisherman manages the lake. The most prevalent fish species is the lake char, which is marketed as the Lake Aussee lake char.
