Variation in prokaryotic community composition as a function of resource availability in tidal creek sediments.

ABSTRACT: In anaerobic coastal sediments, hydrolytic and/or fermentative bacteria degrade polymeric material and produce labile intermediates, which are used by terminal metabolizers to complete the conversion of organic material to CO(2). We used molecular approaches to evaluate the response of two bacterial terminal metabolizer groups from a coastal tidal creek sediments, sulfate reducers and methanogens, to controlled changes in carbon resource supply. Tidal creek sediment bioreactors were established in April and August 2004. For each date, intact sediment sections were continuously supplied with flowthrough seawater that was either unamended or amended with the high-molecular-weight polysaccharide dextran. Biogeochemical data indicate that the activity of fermenting bacteria and the terminal me

SUBMITTER: Edmonds JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2268307 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature