Estudi de la biocenosi dels tapissos microbians del delta de l¿Ebre Authors Isabel Esteve Joan Mir Maira Martínez-Alonso Abstract The microzonation of microorganisms in the microbial mats of the Ebro Delta was studied by light microscopy andscanning and transmission electron microscopy. Microbial mats showed differences in species composition, number and colour of layers, etc. Oxygenic photosynthetic organisms grew on the surface of the mat. In this layer, the community consisted predominantly of pennate diatoms, reaching densities of 7.3·107 cel·cm¿3. Twelve genera of diatoms were identified, and the most abundant were Nitzschia, Navicula, Amphora and Mastogloia. Coccoid cyanobacteria and filamentous cyanobacteria were also identified in the upper layer of the mat, where the predominant filamentous cyanobacterium was Lyngbya aestuarii. The dominant microorganism in the second layer was the filamentous cyanobacterium Microcoleus chthono plastes, which contained 5-20 trichomes within the common sheath. The third layer was not present in all the microbial mats studied, and when it was present the dominant species could be different in different sampling sites. In sampling site P1 the dominant microorganism was the anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium Chromatium gracile. But in site P3 the dominant microorganism in the purple third layer was a new species belonging to the Chromatiaceae (4,16 µm in diameter and 5,98 µm in length; the intracytoplasmic membrane system (ICM) was lamellar; and in the presence of sulphide and light, globules of sulphur are formed inside these cells). Another sheathed filamentous phototrophic microorganism with a lamellar ICM was also observed in this layer. Between the Microcoleus layer and the purple layer, the chemolithotrophic bacterium Beggiatoa sp. was found. Below the photic zone, in the black sediment, sulphate reducing bacteria belonging to the genera Desulfovibrio, Desulfococcus and Desulfotomaculum were identified. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Downloads Text complet (Català) Published 2004-03-01 Issue Vol. 68 : 2000 Section Articles License The intellectual property of articles belongs to the respective authors.On submitting articles for publication to the journal Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural authors accept the following terms:Authors assign to Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural (a subsidiary of Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural.Authors answer to Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural for the authorship and originality of submitted articles.Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles.Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural declines all liability for the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors.The contents published in the journal, unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd) 3.0 Spain licence, the complete text of which may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Consequently, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate the work, provided that its authorship and the body publishing it are acknowledged, and that no commercial use and no derivative works are made of it.The journal Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of the published articles.