The Role of Cable Bacteria on Porewater Acidity in an Organic Rich Coastal Sediment

Sulphide generating coastal sediments are characterised by steep redox gradients. To connect energetically favorable electron donors and acceptors in such sediments, a variety of different microbial strategies have evolved. For example, the well-known sulphur oxidizing bacteria Beggiatoa can acquire nitrate near the sediment surface and transport this electron acceptor deeper in the sediment to oxidize sulphide. Recently, a very different bacterial sulphur oxidizing lifestyle was described in marine sediments. Cable bacteria (family Desulfobulbaceae) grow as long filaments capable of conducting electrons across centimeter-scale distances, from deep reducing sediments up to surface oxic sediments. Ex situ sediment incubation experiments have shown that cable bacteria can exert a powerful control on porewater pH and associated sediment geochemistry. Yet, the biogeography of these novel bacteria, and their influence on sediment geochemistry in natural environments, is not yet well understood. Here we report on a study carried out at an intertidal mussel bed and an oyster reef in the Wadden Sea (The Netherlands). In all sediments examined, nitrate-storing Beggiatoa were nearly absent, while cable bacteria were consistently abundant, with densities reaching up to 1038 m cm^-2. Microsensor profiling revealed acidity distributions that were expected for sediments hosting cable bacteria, with pH maxima near the sediment surface (up to 8.3), and pH minima near the sulphide horizon (down to 6.1). Porewater analyses revealed strongly elevated concentrations of dissolved calcium (< 35 mM), manganese (up to 250 µM), and iron (up to 700 µM), consistent with acidity-driven dissolution of calcium carbonates and iron sulphides associated with cable bacteria activity. Overall, cable bacteria are shown to exert a powerful control on the sediment acidity of coastal bivalve bed sediments, which may have broad implications, particularly for sediment alkalinity fluxes and for carbonate preservation in coastal sulphide generating sediments.