Open AccessDistribution and pool sizes of microbially available carbon in sediment measured by a microbiological assay
Author(s) -
Nedwell David B.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1987.tb02337.x
Subject(s) - sediment , total organic carbon , salt marsh , carbon fibers , environmental chemistry , environmental science , compaction , total inorganic carbon , salt (chemistry) , chemistry , mineralogy , carbon dioxide , geology , oceanography , materials science , geomorphology , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material
A microbiological assay technique with Pseudomonas aeruginosa was used to measure the concentrations (pool sizes) of microbially available carbon in the pore water and in aqueous extracts of sediments from a salt marsh pan and from the salt marsh flat. Total organic carbon in the pan sediment increased with depth due to compaction, but available carbon was greatest in the pan sediment at the sediment/water interface and decreased rapidly with depth. In the sediment from the flat the available carbon was relatively constant in the top 0–3 cm encompassing the root zone, and only decreased below this depth. Available carbon varied from 0.5–1.0% of total organic carbon in the surface 0–3 cm of sediment, to <0.2% at depths greater than 10 cm.