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Decomposition of aquatic biota and sediment formation: lipid components of two blue‐green algal species and of detritus resulting from microbial attack
Author(s) -
CRANWELL P. A.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.1976.tb01639.x
Subject(s) - detritus , diagenesis , blue green algae , sediment , biota , algae , oscillatoria , abundance (ecology) , environmental chemistry , ecology , decomposition , composition (language) , detritivore , chlorophyta , cyanobacteria , biology , trophic level , chemistry , bacteria , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy
Summary To simulate early stages in the diagenesis of algal material in lakes, microbial attack was allowed to proceed on natural populations of two blue‐green algal species, Gloeotrichia echinulata (J. E. Smith) P. Richter and Oscillatoria agardhii var. isothrix Skuja. Changes in composition and abundance of the major lipid fractions were related to differences in the ease of microbial attack and to the effect of oxygen on the decay process. The loss of labile unsaturated compounds during diagenesis is consistent with the small amount of these compounds in most lake sediments.