Abstract
A marine sediment from the Low Isles, North Queensland, has been analysed for its fatty acid content, and compared with the fatty acid content of single and mixed species of bacteria cultured from the sediment. For an environmental perspective, bacterial samples were also cultured from a non-marine sediment and analysed for their fatty acid content. Branched acids in the sediments are clearly of bacterial origin, whilst the diacids found are derived from mangroves. A significant quantity of unsaturated acids including C 18:4, was found in the marine bacteria contrary to present expectations. The correspondence between the ratios of C 16 + 18 unsaturated/ C 16 + 18 saturated acids found for extracts from the marine sediment and its mixed bacterial population was sufficiently close to suggest a common origin. The data shows that only total bacterial populations can be meaningfully used in attempting to assess the contribution of bacteria to sedimentary lipids.
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