Microbial Mats: Structure, Development and Environmental Significance

Front Matter....Pages I-XVIII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Microbial mat research: The recent past and new perspectives....Pages 3-18
Front Matter....Pages 19-19
Microbial mats in coastal environments....Pages 21-32
Species diversity in hot spring microbial mats as revealed by both molecular and enrichment culture approaches — relationship between biodiversity and community structure....Pages 33-44
Microbial mats in a thermomineral sulfurous cave....Pages 45-50
Establishment of phototrophic purple sulphur bacteria in microbial mat systems....Pages 51-60
Biological versus inorganic processes in stromatolite morphogenesis: Observations from mineralizing sedimentary systems....Pages 61-68
Morphological and chemical transformations of Microcoleus chthonoplastes during early diagenesis in hypersaline microbial mats....Pages 69-76
On the significance of solar ultraviolet radiation for the ecology of microbial mats....Pages 77-84
Environmental factors controlling the development of microbial mats in inland saline lakes; the granulometric composition of the sediment....Pages 85-90
Structure of the sediment at depositional saline environments....Pages 91-96
Microbiological mediation of sediment structure and behaviour....Pages 97-109
Field and cultivated Microcoleus chthonoplastes : The search for clues to its prevalence in marine microbial mats....Pages 111-116
The sensitivity for salinity increase in the drought resistant cyanobacterium Crinalium epipsammum SAB 22.89....Pages 117-123
Osmotic adaptation of microbial communities in hypersaline microbial mats....Pages 125-130
Back Matter....Pages 131-132
Front Matter....Pages 133-133
Analysis of microbial mats by use of electrochemical microsensors: Recent advances....Pages 135-147
Optical properties of microbial mats: Light measurements with fiber-optic microprobes....Pages 149-166
Gas diffusion probe for measurement of CH 4 gradients....Pages 167-172
Light and electron microscopy in microbial mat research: An overview....Pages 173-182
Motility of Microcoleus chthonoplastes subjected to different light intensities quantified by digital image analysis....Pages 183-191
Application of molecular genetics to the study of microbial communities....Pages 193-206
Back Matter....Pages 235-240
Front Matter....Pages 133-133
Determination of the genetic diversity of microbial communities using DGGE analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rDNA....Pages 207-214
Exopolymers in microbial mats: Assessing their adaptive roles....Pages 215-219
The challenge to analyse extracellular polymers in biofilms....Pages 221-227
New cultivation techniques and laboratory model systems for investigating the growth of stratified microbial communities....Pages 229-234
Back Matter....Pages 235-240
Front Matter....Pages 241-241
Diffusion processes and boundary layers in microbial mats....Pages 243-253
Cycling of carbon, sulfur, oxygen and nutrients in a microbial mat....Pages 255-263
Nitrogen cycling in microbial mat communities: The quantitative importance of N-fixation and other sources of N for primary productivity....Pages 265-271
Anaerobic dark energy generation in the mat-building cyanobacterium Microcoleus chthonoplastes ....Pages 273-278
Production and consumption of volatile organosulfur compounds in microbial mats....Pages 279-284
Back Matter....Pages 285-286
Front Matter....Pages 287-287
The carbon isotope biogeochemistry of microbial mats....Pages 289-298
The fluxes of inorganic carbon and CO 2 -dependent genes involved in the cyanobacterial inorganic carbon-concentrating mechanism: A view on some of the open questions....Pages 299-304
Oxygenic photosynthesis and light distribution in marine microbial mats....Pages 305-310
The effects of irradiance, temperature and desiccation on cyanobacterial photosynthesis: A possible explanation for the diurnal changes in surface waterblooms....Pages 311-318
Denitrification, nitrification and nitrogen assimilation in photosynthetic microbial mats....Pages 319-324
Nitrogen fixation dynamics in microbial mats....Pages 325-337
Relationships between functional groups of organisms in microbial mats....Pages 339-352
Diel and spatial fluctuations of sulfur transformations....Pages 353-359
Back Matter....Pages 361-364
Front Matter....Pages 365-365
Novel metabolic capacities of sulfate-reducing bacteria, and their activities in microbial mats....Pages 367-376
Diversity of and interactions among sulphur bacteria in microbial mats....Pages 377-392
Phototrophic oxidation of ferrous minerals — a new aspect in the redox microbiology of iron....Pages 393-402
Back Matter....Pages 429-432
Front Matter....Pages 365-365
Heterocystous versus non-heterocystous cyanobacteria in microbial mats....Pages 403-414
Development of versicolored microbial mats: Succession of microbial communities....Pages 415-420
Light-driven sulfate reduction and methane emission in hypersaline cyanobacterial mats....Pages 421-427
Back Matter....Pages 429-432
Front Matter....Pages 433-433
Bioremediability and biological value of microbial mats....Pages 435-436
New concepts in biogeochemical cycling and ecology....Pages 437-440
Front Matter....Pages 441-441
Cyanobacterial mats in general biology....Pages 443-452
Back Matter....Pages 453-466