Work

Biodiversity of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Mercury-Contaminated Beaver Ponds at Avery Brook

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Beaver ponds act as mercury sinks, exhibiting favorable conditions for the production of neurotoxic methylmercury by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs), a group of bacteria that are characterized by function (sulfate reduction) rather than phylogeny. This study was conducted to explore the diversity of SRB communities inhabiting microenvironments at the sediment-water interface in one beaver pond located on the Avery Brook stream system in the Conway State Forest. Clone libraries were constructed in order to capture some of the diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria as well as a biogeographic pattern. Though the clone libraries did not reveal a biogeographic pattern, the results showed an unprecedented amount of SRB diversity in all sampled microenvironments.

Source: Journal of Student Research

DOI: 10.47611/jsr.v3i1.163

Authors: Rachel Anne Kaminsky, Sara Sirois, Robert Merritt, Laura Katz

Institutions: Smith College, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Language: English

Topic: Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Directorate for Biological Sciences