Sulfide fluxes in a microbial mat from the Ebro Delta, Spain Authors Joan Mir Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Maira Martínez-Alonso Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Pierre Caumette Laboratoire d’Écologie Moléculaire-UPRES 159, IBEAS-Campus Universitaire, Pau, France Ricardo Guerrero Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Isabel Esteve Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Keywords: sulfide oxidation, sulfate reduction, microbial mats Abstract The sulfur cycle of Ebro Delta microbial mats was studied in order to determine sulfide production and sulfide consumption. Vertical distribution of two major functional groups involved in the sulfur cycle, anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria and dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), was also studied. The former reached up to 2.2 ×108 cfu cm-3 sediment in the purple layer, and the latter reached about 1.8×105 SRB cm-3 sediment in the black layer. From the changes in sulfide concentrations under light-dark cycles it can be inferred that the rate of H2S production was 6.2 μmol H2S cm-3 day-1 at 2.6 mm, and 7.6 μmol H2S cm-3 day-1 at 6 mm. Furthermore, sulfide consumption was also assessed, determining rates of 0.04, 0.13 and 0.005 mmol l-1 of sulfide oxidized at depths of 2.6, 3 and 6 mm, respectively. Author Biographies Joan Mir, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Maira Martínez-Alonso, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Pierre Caumette, Laboratoire d’Écologie Moléculaire-UPRES 159, IBEAS-Campus Universitaire, Pau, France Laboratoire d’Écologie Moléculaire-UPRES 159, IBEAS-Campus Universitaire, Pau, France Ricardo Guerrero, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Isabel Esteve, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain Downloads PDF Published 2010-09-21 Issue Vol. 5 No. 3 (2002) Section Research Articles License Submission of a manuscript to International Microbiology implies: that the work described has not been published before, including publication in the World Wide Web (except in the form of an Abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all the coauthors have agreed to its publication. The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsability for releasing this material and will act on behalf of any and all coauthors regarding the editorial review and publication process.If an article is accepted for publication in International Microbiology, the authors (or other copyright holder) must transfer to the journal the right–not exclusive–to reproduce and distribute the article including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature. Nevertheless, all article in International Microbiology will be available on the Internet to any reader at no cost. The journal allows users to freely download, copy, print, distribute, search, and link to the full text of any article, provided the authorship and source of the published article is cited. The copyright owner's consent does not include copying for new works, or resale. In these cases, the specific written permission of International Microbiology must first be obtained.Authors are requested to create a link to the published article on the journal's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The original publication is available on LINK at <http://www.im.microbios.org>. Please use the appropiate URL for the article in LINK. Articles disseminated via LINK are indexed, abstracted, and referenced by many abstracting and information services, bibliographic networks, subscription agencies, library networks, and consortia.
