Bacterial community patterns along small- and large-scale environmental radients in Arctic deep-sea sediments

• Other Authors: Quéric, Nadia-Valérie
• Language: English
• Published: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek [Host] 2008
• Subjects: ggo; Arctic
• Online Access: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-diss000112255; http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/ebook/dissts/Bremen/Quéric2008.pdf = Q application/pdf

The deep-sea floor is characterized by highly diverse seascapes such as canyons, seamounts, ridges, fractures, trenches and wide deep basins. Any bathymetric incline is linked to a change in hydrostatic pressure, in the availability of organic material as well as in the susceptibility to physical disturbances, splitting the deep-sea environment into highly heterogeneous habitats of different dynamics. Focussing on vast, apparently desert-like plains of deep-sea sediments, major biogeochemical cycling is concentrated on top sediment layers. There, biogeochemical processes are mainly governed by the quantity and quality of organic matter input originating from surface water production, by the composition and activity of the benthic fauna dealing with it, and ultimately by largeand small-scale disturbances affecting these interactions. In Arctic waters, these processes are reinforced by the seasonal occurrence of mass sedimentation of organic material during ice melting processes, accompanied by manifold current-driven transport processes. Univ., Diss.--Bremen, 2008