Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Microenvironments01:22

Microenvironments

Microorganisms inhabit highly localized spaces known as microenvironments, which are defined by distinct physical and chemical characteristics. These include oxygen concentration, pH, temperature, light availability, and nutrient levels. The conditions within a microenvironment can differ markedly from those in the surrounding area and significantly influence microbial growth, metabolism, and community structure.Microenvironments often display sharp physicochemical gradients over small spatial...
Microbial Mats01:25

Microbial Mats

Microbial communities forming biofilms and mats represent complex, spatially structured ecosystems where metabolic processes are stratified according to light, oxygen, and nutrient gradients. Biofilms are initial colonization stages, only a few millimeters thick, while mature microbial mats can reach centimeter-scale thickness and display intricate vertical organization. Their structural and functional heterogeneity allows microorganisms to occupy distinct ecological niches within a few...
Marine Microbial Ecology01:30

Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...
Deep Sea Microbial Ecology01:18

Deep Sea Microbial Ecology

The deep ocean and its underlying sediments represent vast, largely unexplored microbial habitats that extend far beyond the sunlit photic zone. The photic (euphotic) zone typically spans the upper ~100–200 meters of pelagic waters in the open ocean, but its depth varies geographically and seasonally, where sufficient light supports photosynthetic life. Below this lies the deep sea, spanning roughly 1000–6000 meters (bathypelagic to abyssal zones), with deeper hadal trenches extending beyond...
Freshwater Microbial Ecology01:24

Freshwater Microbial Ecology

Freshwater systems such as streams, rivers, and lakes exhibit distinct physical and biological characteristics that influence their microbial communities. These environments are broadly categorized into lotic systems—those with flowing waters like streams and most rivers—and lentic systems, which include still or slow-moving waters such as lakes, ponds, and marshes.In lentic systems, phytoplankton drive primary production, generating autochthonous organic carbon. In contrast, lotic systems...
Microbial Wastewater Treatment01:30

Microbial Wastewater Treatment

Microbial communities in aquatic ecosystems play a key role in the natural breakdown of contaminants introduced through domestic and industrial effluents. Acting as biological catalysts, these microbes change and mineralize a wide range of organic and inorganic pollutants under different redox conditions.In oxygen-rich surface waters, aerobic heterotrophs lead organic matter breakdown, using oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor to efficiently oxidize substrates to carbon dioxide and water.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Host Genetic Constraints on the Horizontal Transmission of Daphnia-associated Microbiota.

Microbes and environments·2026
Same author

Carbon source acts as a deterministic filter shaping microbial succession and rare-abundant decoupling in soil bacterial communities.

ISME communications·2026
Same author

Directional Colony Growth of Cupriavidus toward Sphingomonads.

Microbes and environments·2026
Same author

Intensive care utilization and clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a nationwide observational study using the Japanese intensive care patient database.

Heart and vessels·2026
Same author

Application of a Hopfield neural network to extract essential spectral patterns from ToF-SIMS spectra of peptides.

Analytical sciences : the international journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry·2026
Same author

Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Perioperative Cardiac Arrest in Noncardiac Surgery: A Nationwide Cohort Study in Japan.

Anesthesiology open·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
10:43

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Published on: November 5, 2014

26.0K

Microbial communities developing within bulk sediments under fish carcasses on a tidal flat.

Yasutake Kawamoto1, Hiromi Kato1, Yuji Nagata1

  • 1Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

Plos One
|February 25, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Animal carcasses in tidal flats create unique bacterial and protozoan communities in surrounding sediment. These distinct microbial assemblages, forming a temporary food web, are influenced by the carcass and microbe interactions.

More Related Videos

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
15:19

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor

Published on: October 15, 2015

9.9K
Microbiota of Attine Ants' Gardens: Visualizing a Microbial Landscape by Scanning Electron Microscopy
07:00

Microbiota of Attine Ants' Gardens: Visualizing a Microbial Landscape by Scanning Electron Microscopy

Published on: October 4, 2024

878

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology
10:43

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Published on: November 5, 2014

26.0K
Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
15:19

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor

Published on: October 15, 2015

9.9K
Microbiota of Attine Ants' Gardens: Visualizing a Microbial Landscape by Scanning Electron Microscopy
07:00

Microbiota of Attine Ants' Gardens: Visualizing a Microbial Landscape by Scanning Electron Microscopy

Published on: October 4, 2024

878

Area of Science:

  • Marine biology
  • Microbial ecology
  • Ecosystem dynamics

Background:

  • Animal carcasses deposited in tidal flats act as nutrient-rich microhabitats.
  • These unique environments may influence microbial communities in adjacent sediments.
  • Limited knowledge exists on microbial assemblages around carcasses in intertidal zones.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate bacterial and ciliophoran assemblages associated with fish carcasses in a tidal flat.
  • To understand the temporal dynamics of these microbial communities.

Main Methods:

  • Incubation of fish carcasses in the Higashiyachi tidal flat, Japan.
  • Collection of sediment samples at 2, 9, and 42 days post-incubation.
  • Analysis of bacterial and ciliophoran communities using 16S and 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.

Main Results:

  • Significant differences in bacterial and ciliophoran operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were observed between sediment with and without carcasses.
  • The composition and relative abundance of microbial assemblages were altered by the presence of carcasses.
  • Evidence suggests direct and indirect effects of carcasses on microbial community structure.

Conclusions:

  • Animal carcasses significantly shape unique bacterial and ciliophoran assemblages in tidal flat sediments.
  • These carcasses establish a transient microbial food web influenced by direct and indirect ecological interactions.
  • The specialized microbial food web associated with carcasses is temporary, disappearing within weeks.