- Marine Ecology: Microbial Processes
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Estimation of the microbial biomass in tidal flat sediment by fumigation-extraction
Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen volume 49, pages 213–221 (1995)
Abstract
A transect of ten profiles was laid out in 20 m intervals on a tidal sand flat approximately 100 m from the east shore of Sylt until the next tideway was reached. Sediment samples were taken from 0–2 cm depth (oxic layer) and 2–4 cm depth (anoxic layer). The average content of organic carbon (C) was 2.41 mg g−1 in the oxic layer and 1.86 mg g−1 in the anoxic layer. The organic C content correlated positively with non-biomass C, 0.5M K2SO4 extractable C, total nitrogen (N), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and the textural classes <200 μm, and negatively correlated with the coarse sand fraction. The average total C:N ratio was 7.0 in the oxic layer and 6.7 in the anoxic layer, indicating that the C input comes entirely from the microflora. CHCl3-labile C was measured by the fumigation-extraction method and was converted to microbial biomass C (values in brackets). The average content of CHCl3-labile C was 407 μg g−1 (903 μg g−1) in the oxic layer and 214 μg g−1 (476 μg g−1) in the anoxic layer. CHCl3-labile C did not correlate with CEC and the textural classes <200 μm, indicating that conditions other than the physical environment determine this fraction (C input, grazing).
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Joergensen, R.G., Mueller, T. Estimation of the microbial biomass in tidal flat sediment by fumigation-extraction. Helgolander Meeresunters 49, 213–221 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02368351
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02368351