Bulk Sediment (bulk + sediment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Different bacterial communities associated with the roots and bulk sediment of the seagrass Zostera marina

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
Sheila Ingemann Jensen
Abstract The bacterial community of Zostera marina -inhabited bulk sediment vs. root-associated bacteria was investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing, and the spatial extension of the oxygen loss from roots was determined by oxygen microsensors. Extensive oxygen loss was found in the tip region of the youngest roots, and most of the rhizoplane of Z. marina roots was thus anoxic. A significant difference between the bacterial communities associated with the roots and bulk sediment was found. No significant differences were found between differently aged root-bundles. Terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) assigned to sulfate-reducing Deltaproteobacteria showed a relative mean distribution of 12% and 23% of the PCR-amplified bacterial community in the bulk-sediment at the two sites, but only contributed <2% to the root-associated communities. TRFs assigned to Epsilonproteobacteria showed a relative mean distribution of between 5% and 11% in the root-associated communities of the youngest root bundle, in contrast to the bulk-sediment where this TRF only contributed <1.3%. TRFs assigned to Actinobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria also seemed important first root-colonizers, whereas TRFs assigned to Deltaproteobacteria became increasingly important in the root-associated community of the older root bundles. The presence of the roots thus apparently selects for a distinct bacterial community, stimulating the growth of potential symbiotic Epsilon - and Gammaproteobacteria and/or inhibiting the growth of sulfate-reducing Deltaproteobacteria. [source]


Detection of diluted marine tertiary tephra by electron spin resonance and magnetic measurements

GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2003
B. Ananou
SUMMARY Oligocene sediments from ODP leg 115 (South Indian Ocean), Site 709 and Site 711, have been investigated using electron spin resonance (ESR) and magnetic susceptibility measurements, to detect volcanic tephra layers of supposed Ethiopian traps origin. The results obtained at room temperature, without separating the volcanic material from the bulk sediment, show that the ash-content strongly influences the lineshape and intensity of the ESR signal. As a result, the ESR alone, can be used as a powerful tool for characterizing the diluted ash-content of marine sediments. We have also found a strong similarity between the ESR spectra of the same tephra layers from the two sites. [source]


From ice age to modern: a record of landscape change in an Andean cloud forest

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 9 2010
B. G. Valencia
Abstract Aim, To investigate the palaeoecological changes associated with the last ice age, subsequent deglaciation and human occupation of the central Andes. Location, Lake Pacucha, Peruvian Andes (13°36,26, S, 73°19,42, W; 3095 m elevation). Methods, Vegetation assemblages were reconstructed for the last 24 cal. kyr bp (thousand calibrated 14C years before present), based on pollen analysis of sediments from Lake Pacucha. An age model was established using 14C accelerator mass spectrometry dates on bulk sediment. Fossil pollen and sedimentological analyses followed standard methodologies. Results, Puna brava replaced the Andean forest at the elevation of Lake Pacucha at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Deglaciation proceeded rapidly after 16 cal. kyr bp, and near-modern vegetation was established by c. 14 cal. kyr bp. The deglacial was marked by the range expansion of forest taxa as grassland taxa receded in importance. The mid-Holocene was marked by a lowered lake level but relatively unchanged vegetation. Quinoa and maize pollen were found in the latter half of the Holocene. Main conclusions, Temperatures were about 7,8 °C colder than present at this site during the LGM. The pattern of vegetation change was suggestive of microrefugial expansion rather than simple upslope migration. The mid-Holocene droughts were interrupted by rainfall events sufficiently frequent to allow vegetation to survive largely unchanged, despite lowering of the lake level. Human activity at the lake included a 5500-year history of quinoa cultivation and 3000 years of maize cultivation. [source]


Changing marine productivity off northern Chile during the past 19,000 years: a multivariable approach

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004
M. Mohtadi
Abstract A multivariable approach utilising bulk sediment, planktonic Foraminifera and siliceous phytoplankton has been used to reconstruct rapid variations in palaeoproductivity in the Peru,Chile Current System off northern Chile for the past 19,000,cal.,yr. During the early deglaciation (19,000,16,000,cal.,yr,BP), our data point to strongest upwelling intensity and highest productivity of the past 19,000,cal.,yr. The late deglaciation (16,000,13,000,cal.,yr,BP) is characterised by a major change in the oceanographic setting, warmer water masses and weaker upwelling at the study site. Lowest productivity and weakest upwelling intensity are observed from the early to the middle Holocene (13,000,4000,cal.,yr,BP), and the beginning of the late Holocene (<4000,cal.,yr,BP) is marked by increasing productivity, mainly driven by silicate-producing organisms. Changes in the productivity and upwelling intensity in our record may have resulted from a large-scale compression and/or displacement of the South Pacific subtropical gyre during more productive periods, in line with a northward extension of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and increased advection of Antarctic water masses with the Peru,Chile Current. The corresponding increase in hemispheric thermal gradient and wind stress induced stronger upwelling. During the periods of lower productivity, this scenario probably reversed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]