Aerobic sulfate reduction in microbial mats
Canfield DE and Des Marais DJ. 1991. Aerobic sulfate reduction in microbial mats. Science. 251(5000):1471-1473
Measurements of bacterial sulfate reduction and dissolved oxygen (O2) in hypersaline bacterial mats from Baja California, Mexico, revealed that sulfate reduction occured consistently within the well-oxygenated photosynthetic zone of the mats. This evidence that dissimilatory sulfate reduction can occur in the presence of O2 challenges the conventional view that sulfate reduction is a strictly anaerobic process. At constant temperature, the rates of sulfate reduction in oxygenated mats during daytime were similar to rates in anoxic mats at night: thus, during a 24-hour cycle, variations in light and O2 have little effect on rates of sulfate reduction in these mats.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Canfield, D.; Des Marais, D.
- Units
- CACO
- Keywords
- Microbes, Oxygen, sulfate reduction