Mats of colourless sulphur bacteria. I. Major microbial processes

Abstract

Mats of colourless sulphur bacteria from two marine sediments were studied with respect to sulphide and oxygen fluxes, rates of key microbial processes and spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The relatively protected habitat was dominated by Beggiatoa species. The other habitat was a shallow bay which is often subject to wave-induced transport and erosion of the sediment. From autumn to spring, sediment surface communities of colourless sulphur bacteria were patchy in time and space and they represented different successional stages with respect to the composition of the biota and to process rates. -from Authors