Lipid composition and vertical distribution of bacteria in aerobic sediments of the Venezuela Basin

Abstract

Box cores of surface (0 to 30-cm) sediments from carbonate, hemipelagic, and turbidite sediment types of the deep (3493 to 5039-m) Venezuelan Basin were analyzed to investigate the relationship between the vertical distribution of bacteria, lipids, lipid phosphate, and grain size. The polar lipid fraction was isolated chromatographically and quantified by flame-ionization detection using the Iatroscan TH-10 analyzer. Total bacterial abundance was measured by epifluorescence microscopy in sediments (0 to 20-cm) from the carbonate and turbidite sediments. In all three sediment types investigated, both total and polar lipid concentrations decreased with increasing depth in the sediment. The highest total and polar lipid concentrations were at the sediment-water interface (0 to 2-cm) of hemipelagic sediments (62.0 and 25.7 μg g −1 dry sediment, respectively) followed by the carbonate and turbidite sediments. A similar decline in lipid phosphate was also observed. Bacterial abundance was > 5 × 10 8 bacteria (per gram dry sediment) at the sediment surface in both sediments examined and over 1 × 10 7 bacteria 20 cm below the sediment-water interface. Polar lipid and lipid phosphate concentrations did not appear to correlate with estimates of bacterial biomass, even in regions where bacteria were apparently the only organisms present.