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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2004, p. 1608-1616, Vol. 70, No. 3
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.3.1608-1616.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Salinity Responses of Benthic Microbial Communities in a Solar Saltern (Eilat, Israel)

Ketil Bernt Sørensen,1* Donald E. Canfield,1 and Aharon Oren2

Danish Center for Earth System Science, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, University of Odense, Odense, Denmark,1 The Institute of Life Sciences and the Moshe Shilo Minerva Center for Marine Biogeochemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel2

Received 2 July 2003/ Accepted 3 November 2003

The salinity responses of cyanobacteria, anoxygenic phototrophs, sulfate reducers, and methanogens from the laminated endoevaporitic community in the solar salterns of Eilat, Israel, were studied in situ with oxygen microelectrodes and in the laboratory in slurries. The optimum salinity for the sulfate reduction rate in sediment slurries was between 100 and 120{per thousand}, and sulfate reduction was strongly inhibited at an in situ salinity of 215{per thousand}. Nevertheless, sulfate reduction was an important respiratory process in the crust, and reoxidation of formed sulfide accounted for a major part of the oxygen budget. Methanogens were well adapted to the in situ salinity but contributed little to the anaerobic mineralization in the crust. In slurries with a salinity of 180{per thousand} or less, methanogens were inhibited by increased activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Unicellular and filamentous cyanobacteria metabolized at near-optimum rates at the in situ salinity, whereas the optimum salinity for anoxygenic phototrophs was between 100 and 120{per thousand}.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Marine Sciences Department, 12-7 Venable Hall CB #3300, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Phone: (919) 843-2462. Fax: (919) 962-1254. E-mail: ketilsorensen{at}unc.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2004, p. 1608-1616, Vol. 70, No. 3
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.3.1608-1616.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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