Is there a common water-activity limit for the three domains of life?

Funding was received from the Research (Northern Ireland) and Enterprise Directorate of Queen’s University Belfast; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland); Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, UK) Projects BBF/003471/1 and BBF/00351X/1; and the Beaufort Marine Research Award for Marine Biodiscovery that is carried out under the Sea Change Strategy and the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (2006–2013), with the support of the Marine Institute, Ireland. This work was also supported by the State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) via a grant awarded to Drauzio EN Rangel (#2010/06374-1).