Diversity and transport of microorganisms in intertidal sands of the California coast.

ABSTRACT: Forced by tides and waves, large volumes of seawater are flushed through the beach daily. Organic material and nutrients in seawater are remineralized and cycled as they pass through the beach. Microorganisms are responsible for most of the biogeochemical cycling in the beach; however, few studies have characterized their diversity in intertidal sands, and little work has characterized the extent to which microbes are transported between different compartments of the beach. The present study uses next-generation massively parallel sequencing to characterize the microbial community present at 49 beaches along the coast of California. In addition, we characterize the transport of microorganisms within intertidal sands using laboratory column experiments. We identified extensive diversity in

SUBMITTER: Boehm AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4054206 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature