Laminated Cyanobacterial Mats

Weakly laminated silica layers among filamentous cyanobacteria were observed in both mats.

Laminated cyanobacterial mats.

Formation occurs when alternating layers of blue green bacteria and sediments are deposited or grow in place creating dark laminated layers. Laminated mats and aggregates exemplify such communities. 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.

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. They are typically composed of blue green cyanobacteria and sediments. 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.

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. 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. These finely laminated siliceous sinters were composed of a heterogeneously nucleated amorphous silica matrix which seemed to precipitate in the spaces between filaments. Bioturbation by larger animals also destroys the simple 1 dimensional vertical zonation patterns characteristic of microbial mats and.

Specific representatives of the meiofauna and the macrofauna disrupt and ingest the cyanobacterial mats. 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. 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. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals.