| Abstract |
We compared the microphytobenthic pigments concentrations and Adenosine-5’ triphosphate (ATP) as an index of total microbial biomass in intertidal environments (muddy and sandy sediment) of the Hwaseong peninsula, west coast of Korea. Microphytobenthic pigment and ATP concentrations were the highest in the surface and decreased with increasing sediment depth in muddy sediment. But microphytobenthos biomass was the highest in the sub-surface at 0.75 cm sediment depth, and also shown a decreasing tendency in sandy sediment. The detected pigments of microphytobenthos were chlorophyll a, b, c3, peridinin, fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, alloxanthin, diatoxanthin, zeaxanthin, β-carotein, and pheophytin a. Pigment analysis indicated that diatoms were dominated in the microphytobenthic community of tidal flat, exhibiting the largest concentration of fucoxanthin. There is little significant correlation between OC and ATP in both sediments. However, the positive correlation between chlorophyll a concentration and ATP concentration was found in sandy sediments, suggesting that microbial biomass should be affected by labile OC derived from microphytobenthos. These results provide valuable information on the relationship between microphytobenthos and microbial biomass in different intertidal sediment environment. |
