Laminated Cyanobacterial Mats

Bioturbation by larger animals also destroys the simple 1 dimensional vertical zonation patterns characteristic of microbial mats and.

Laminated cyanobacterial mats.

Mar biol 82 217 224 crossref google scholar stal lj van gemerden h krumbein we 1985 structure and development of a benthic marine microbial mat. Specific representatives of the meiofauna and the macrofauna disrupt and ingest the cyanobacterial mats. The cyanobacterial mats are completely destroyed within 1 to 2 wk after colonisation by benthic animals. Laminated mats and aggregates exemplify such communities.

Forms of laminated cyanobacterial mats and their res pective species composition structure and stratifica tion in relation to ecology and topography in a lotie setting. Cyanobacteria dominated hypersaline laminated mats are a useful model ecosystem for the study of c flow in complex communities as they use photosynthesis to sustain a more or less closed system. Flat laminated mats found in very shallow pools lagoons and salt marshes often have a distinct layer of anoxygenic purple phototrophs with bacteriochlorophyll b below layers of cyanobacteria and purple and green phototrophs nicholson et al 1987 pierson et al 1987 stolz 1990. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals.

They colonize environments ranging in temperature from 40 c to 120 c. A microbial mat is a multi layered sheet of microorganisms mainly bacteria and archaea and also just bacterial microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material mostly on submerged or moist surfaces but a few survive in deserts. These finely laminated siliceous sinters were composed of a heterogeneously nucleated amorphous silica matrix which seemed to precipitate in the spaces between filaments. Stal lj grossberger s krumbein we 1984 nitrogen fixation associated with the cyanobacterial mat of a marine laminated microbial ecosystem.

They are typically composed of blue green cyanobacteria and sediments. Formation of microlaminated sediments in solar salt works along the mediterranean coast in southern france only occurs within a restricted salinity range of 60 150 gl 1 these salinities are associated with development of a laminated cyanobacterial mat composed primarily of the filamentous cyanobacteria microcoleus chthonoplastes interbedded with detrital laminae. Formation occurs when alternating layers of blue green bacteria and sediments are deposited or grow in place creating dark laminated layers. Cyanobacterial bacterial consortial associations are taxonomically complex metabolically interactive self sustaining prokaryotic communities representing pioneer and often the only biota inhabiting extreme aquatic and terrestrial environments.