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Updated: Aug 4, 2025
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Soil Lysimeter Excavation for Coupled Hydrological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Investigations
Published on: September 11, 2016
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Grain size distribution drives microbial communities vertically assemble in nascent lake sediments
Jie Lin1, Xiaotian Zhou1, Xiang Lu2
1State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China; College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China.
Environmental Research
|April 3, 2023
Summary
Sediment microbial diversity is driven by grain size distribution, which influences pore space and organic matter. This study links sediment physical structure to microbial communities in a new reservoir.
Area of Science:
- Environmental microbiology
- Geochemistry
- Sedimentology
Background:
- Sediment microbes are vital for aquatic biogeochemical cycles.
- The impact of sediment physical structure on microbial communities is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between sediment geophysical structure and microbial communities in a nascent reservoir.
- To characterize sediment heterogeneity using multifractal analysis.
Main Methods:
- Collected sediment cores from a newly formed reservoir.
- Applied multifractal models to analyze sediment grain size distribution (GSD) and pore space heterogeneity.
- Utilized partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) to determine key drivers of microbial diversity.
Main Results:
- Microbial community structure and environmental physiochemistry varied significantly with sediment depth.
- Grain size distribution (GSD) was identified as the primary factor influencing sediment microbial diversity.
- GSD impacts microbial communities and biomass by controlling pore space and organic matter availability.
Conclusions:
- This study pioneers the application of soil multifractal models to describe sediment physical structure.
- Findings reveal the critical role of GSD in shaping vertical microbial community distribution in aquatic sediments.
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