Impact of dilution on stochastically driven methanogenic microbial communities of hypersaline anoxic sediments.

ABSTRACT: Sediments underlying the solar salterns of S'Avall are anoxic hypersaline ecosystems dominated by anaerobic prokaryotes, and with the especial relevance of putative methanogenic archaea. Slurries from salt-saturated sediments, diluted in a gradient of salinity and incubated for > 4 years revealed that salt concentration was the major selection force that deterministically structured microbial communities. The dominant archaea in the original communities showed a decrease in alpha diversity with dilution accompanied by the increase of bacterial alpha diversity, being highest at 5% salts. Correspondingly, methanogens decreased and in turn sulfate reducers increased with decreasing salt concentrations. Methanogens especially dominated at 25%. Different concentrations of litter of Posidonia oc

SUBMITTER: Font-Verdera F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10673710 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature