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Sediment characteristics and microbial mats in a marine mangrove, Manche-à-eau lagoon (Guadeloupe)

  • ISEB 2015: Biogeochemical Dynamics of Sediment-Water Systems: Processes and Modelling
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Marine mangrove sediments in the Manche-à-Eau lagoon (Guadeloupe, Caribbean Sea) harbor locally extensive, white microbial mats. These mats cover the surface of reduced sediments near the roots of red mangrove trees, Rhizophora mangle, and are mainly composed of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria belonging to the Beggiatoaceae family, with some filamentous cyanobacteria. The goal of this study was to investigate the possible influence of sediment characteristics on the presence of these microbial mats.

Materials and methods

Four push cores were collected in April 2013, two from zones with microbial mats and two from zones without mats. Sediment characteristics (grain-size distribution, mineralogy, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, atomic TOC/TN ratios, and organic matter (OM) δ13C values) were compared for all four cores.

Results and discussion

Significant differences were observed between sediments below microbial mats and those without mats. Sediments with microbial mats contained greater amounts of clay, and higher TOC, TN, and TOC/TN ratios, with lower total carbonate content and δ13C values. The higher clay content most likely results from lower fluid flow velocity near to mangrove roots, while higher TOC/TN ratios and lower δ13C values indicate higher inputs of OM from mangrove trees. These results are consistent with the fact that microbial mats were observed near the roots of mangrove trees, which trap OM from terrestrial vegetation and fine sediments.

Conclusions

The grain-size distribution of sediment particles, the total carbonate content, and the δ13C values are the main parameters discriminating between zones with microbial mats and those without mats. Variations in total carbonate content, which is mainly of biogenic origin, result from conditions that are more favorable for benthic organisms in zones without microbial mats. Variations of the TOC/TN ratios are controlled by the presence of a non-negligible amount of inorganic nitrogen bound to surface clay mineral particles and/or by microbial processes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. The authors thank Omar Boudouma for performing the SEM observations and EDS. The authors are also grateful to Jessy Toncin for her assistance with the mineralogical and OM geochemical analyses. They also wish to thank Laurent Brutier and Michel Lareal (LOG, Wimereux, France) for their technical assistance. Fruitful comments and constructive suggestions by two anonymous reviewers considerably helped to improve the manuscript. The authors also wish to thank Carmela Chateau Smith for the assistance with English.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, CNRS UMR 8185 LOG, Université Lille Nord de France COMUE, Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale (ULCO), 32 Avenue Foch, 62930, Wimereux, France

    Swanne Gontharet & David Dessailly

  2. Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), P.O. 6315, Sluppen, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Antoine Crémière

  3. CR2P, UMR 7207, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités - MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris 6, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Marie-Madeleine Blanc-Valleron

  4. Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES), Sorbonne Universités, CNRS, UPMC University Paris 06, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Mathieu Sebilo

  5. Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine UMR 7138-Evolution Paris-Seine, Equipe Biologie de la Mangrove, Université des Antilles, BP 592, 97159, Point-à-Pitre Cedex, Guadeloupe, France

    Olivier Gros

  6. Ecobio, UMR 6553, Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Anniet M. Laverman

Authors
  1. Swanne Gontharet
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  2. Antoine Crémière
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  3. Marie-Madeleine Blanc-Valleron
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  4. Mathieu Sebilo
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  5. Olivier Gros
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  6. Anniet M. Laverman
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  7. David Dessailly
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swanne Gontharet.

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Responsible editor: Nives Ogrinc

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Gontharet, S., Crémière, A., Blanc-Valleron, MM. et al. Sediment characteristics and microbial mats in a marine mangrove, Manche-à-eau lagoon (Guadeloupe). J Soils Sediments 17, 1999–2010 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1555-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1555-6

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