Research Portal

The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Standard Standard

The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development. / Malarkey, J.; Baas, J.H.; Hope, J.A. et al.
In: Nature Communications, Vol. 6, No. 6257, 06.02.2015.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

HarvardHarvard

Malarkey, J, Baas, JH, Hope, JA, Aspenden, RJ, Parsons, DR, Peakall, J, Peterson, DM, Schindler, RJ, Ye, L, Lichtman, ID, Bass, SJ, Davies, AG, Manning, AJ & Thorne, PD 2015, 'The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development', Nature Communications, vol. 6, no. 6257. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257

APA

Malarkey, J., Baas, J. H., Hope, J. A., Aspenden, R. J., Parsons, D. R., Peakall, J., Peterson, D. M., Schindler, R. J., Ye, L., Lichtman, I. D., Bass, S. J., Davies, A. G., Manning, A. J., & Thorne, P. D. (2015). The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development. Nature Communications, 6(6257). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257

CBE

Malarkey J, Baas JH, Hope JA, Aspenden RJ, Parsons DR, Peakall J, Peterson DM, Schindler RJ, Ye L, Lichtman ID, et al. 2015. The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development. Nature Communications. 6(6257). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257

MLA

Malarkey, J. et al. "The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development". Nature Communications. 2015. 6(6257). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257

VancouverVancouver

Malarkey J, Baas JH, Hope JA, Aspenden RJ, Parsons DR, Peakall J et al. The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development. Nature Communications. 2015 Feb 6;6(6257). doi: 10.1038/ncomms7257

Author

Malarkey, J. ; Baas, J.H. ; Hope, J.A. et al. / The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development. In: Nature Communications. 2015 ; Vol. 6, No. 6257.

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development

AU - Malarkey, J.

AU - Baas, J.H.

AU - Hope, J.A.

AU - Aspenden, R.J.

AU - Parsons, D.R.

AU - Peakall, J.

AU - Peterson, D.M.

AU - Schindler, R.J.

AU - Ye, L.

AU - Lichtman, I.D.

AU - Bass, S.J.

AU - Davies, A.G.

AU - Manning, A.J.

AU - Thorne, P.D.

PY - 2015/2/6

Y1 - 2015/2/6

N2 - Sediment fluxes in aquatic environments are crucially dependent on bedform dynamics. However, sediment-flux predictions rely almost completely on clean-sand studies, despite most environments being composed of mixtures of non-cohesive sands, physically cohesive muds and biologically cohesive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) generated by microorganisms. EPS associated with surficial biofilms are known to stabilize sediment and increase erosion thresholds. Here we present experimental data showing that the pervasive distribution of low levels of EPS throughout the sediment, rather than the high surficial levels of EPS in biofilms, is the key control on bedform dynamics. The development time for bedforms increases by up to two orders of magnitude for extremely small quantities of pervasively distributed EPS. This effect is far stronger than for physical cohesion, because EPS inhibit sand grains from moving independently. The results highlight that present bedform predictors are overly simplistic, and the associated sediment transport processes require re-assessment for the influence of EPS.

AB - Sediment fluxes in aquatic environments are crucially dependent on bedform dynamics. However, sediment-flux predictions rely almost completely on clean-sand studies, despite most environments being composed of mixtures of non-cohesive sands, physically cohesive muds and biologically cohesive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) generated by microorganisms. EPS associated with surficial biofilms are known to stabilize sediment and increase erosion thresholds. Here we present experimental data showing that the pervasive distribution of low levels of EPS throughout the sediment, rather than the high surficial levels of EPS in biofilms, is the key control on bedform dynamics. The development time for bedforms increases by up to two orders of magnitude for extremely small quantities of pervasively distributed EPS. This effect is far stronger than for physical cohesion, because EPS inhibit sand grains from moving independently. The results highlight that present bedform predictors are overly simplistic, and the associated sediment transport processes require re-assessment for the influence of EPS.

UR - https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fncomms7257/MediaObjects/41467_2015_BFncomms7257_MOESM783_ESM.pdf

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms7257

DO - 10.1038/ncomms7257

M3 - Article

VL - 6

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

IS - 6257

ER -