Laminated Cyanobacterial Mats

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.

Laminated cyanobacterial mats.

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. They colonize environments ranging in temperature from 40 c to 120 c. 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. Specific representatives of the meiofauna and the macrofauna disrupt and ingest the cyanobacterial mats.

Materials and methods sample collections the hard and encrusted subaerial mats were remo ved from the side wall of the canal with the help of a geological hammer and. 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. Bioturbation by larger animals also destroys the simple 1 dimensional vertical zonation patterns characteristic of microbial mats and. Algal mats are one of many types of microbial mat that forms on the surface of water or rocks.

Weakly laminated silica layers among filamentous cyanobacteria were observed in both mats. They are typically composed of blue green cyanobacteria and sediments. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals. Stal lj grossberger s krumbein we 1984 nitrogen fixation associated with the cyanobacterial mat of a marine laminated microbial ecosystem.

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. The cyanobacterial mats are completely destroyed within 1 to 2 wk after colonisation by benthic animals. These finely laminated siliceous sinters were composed of a heterogeneously nucleated amorphous silica matrix which seemed to precipitate in the spaces between filaments. Laminated mats and aggregates exemplify such communities.