Neutral monosaccharides from a hypersaline tropical environment: Applications to the characterization of modern and ancient ecosystems

Abstract

Surficial and buried sediment samples from a hypersaline lagoon-sabkha system (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) were analysed for carbohydrates (as neutral monosaccharides) to distinguish and characterise various types of recent and ancient tropical ecosystems on a molecular level. The samples consisted of surficial and buried microbial mats, lagoonal sediments containing seagrass ( Halodule uninervis), and mangrove ( Avicennia marina) paleosoils and handpicked mangrove leaves, ranging in age from contemporary to ca. 6000 yr Bp. Analysis of quantitative neutral monosaccharide data by multivariate techniques shows that various groups can be distinguished: intact vascular plant material (mangrove leaf) contains high amounts of arabinose and glucose and hardly any partially methylated monosaccharides, whereas microbial mats in general and lagoonal seagrass sediments show high contributions of fucose, ribose, mannose, galactose and partially methylated monosaccharides. Moreover, surficial microbial mats consisting of filamentous cyanobacteria ( Microcoleus chtonoplastes, Lyngbya aestuarii) can be distinguished from other mats and sediments containing coccoid cyanobacteria ( Entophysalis major) and/or fermenting, sulphate reducing, and methanogenic bacteria on the basis of high contributions of specific groups of partially methylated monosaccharides and other “minor” saccharides. The neutral monosaccharides present in mangrove paleosoils are for a substantial part derived from microorganisms.