In the sedimental organic matter of eutrophic continental seas, such as the largest dead zone in the world, the Baltic Sea, bacteria may directly participate in nutrient release by mineralizing organic matter or indirectly by altering the sediment’s ability to retain nutrients. Here, we present a case study of a hypoxic sea, which receives riverine nutrient loading and in which microbe-mediated vicious cycles of nutrients prevail. We showed that bacterial communities changed along the horizontal loading and vertical mineralization gradients in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, using multivariate statistics of terminal restriction fragments and sediment chemical, spatial and other properties of the sampling sites. The change was mainly explained by concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, which showed strong positive correlation with Flavobacteria, Sphingobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. These bacteria predominated in the most organic-rich coastal surface sediments overlain by oxic bottom water, whereas sulphate-reducing bacteria, particularly the genus Desulfobacula, prevailed in the reduced organic-rich surface sediments in the open sea. They correlated positively with organic nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as manganese oxides. These relationships suggest that the bacterial groups participated in the aerobic and anaerobic degradation of organic matter and contributed to nutrient cycling. The high abundance of sulphate reducers in the surficial sediment layers reflects the persistence of eutrophication-induced hypoxia causing ecosystem-level changes in the Baltic Sea. The sulphate reducers began to decrease below depths of 20 cm, where members of the family Anaerolineaceae (phylum Chloroflexi) increased, possibly taking part in terminal mineralization processes. Our study provides valuable information on how organic loading affects sediment bacterial community compositions, which consequently may maintain active nutrient recycling. This information is needed to improve our understanding on nutrient cycling in shallow seas where the dead zones are continuously spreading worldwide.

BackgroundExternal nutrient discharges have caused eutrophication in many estuaries and coastal seas such as the Baltic Sea. The sedimented nutrients can affect bacterial communities which, in turn, are widely believed to contribute to release of nutrients such as phosphorus from the sediment.MethodsWe investigated relationships between bacterial communities and chemical forms of phosphorus as well as elements involved in its cycling in brackish sediments using up-to-date multivariate statistical methods. Bacterial community composition was determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and cloning of the 16S rRNA gene.Results and ConclusionsThe bacterial community composition differed along gradients of nutrients, especially of different phosphorus forms, from the estuary receiving agricultural phosphorus loading to the open sea. This suggests that the chemical composition of sediment phosphorus, which has been affected by riverine phosphorus loading, influenced on bacterial communities. Chemical and spatial parameters explained 25% and 11% of the variation in bacterial communities. Deltaproteobacteria, presumptively sulphate and sulphur/iron reducing, were strongly associated to chemical parameters, also when spatial autocorrelation was taken into account. Sulphate reducers correlated positively with labile organic phosphorus and total nitrogen in the open sea sediments. Sulphur/iron reducers and sulphate reducers linked to iron reduction correlated positively with aluminium- and iron-bound phosphorus, and total iron in the estuary. The sulphate and sulphur/iron reducing bacteria can thus have an important role both in the mineralization and mobilization of nutrients from sediment.SignificanceNovelty in our study is that relationships between bacterial community composition and different phosphorus forms, instead of total phosphorus, were investigated. Total phosphorus does not necessarily bring out interactions between bacteria and phosphorus chemistry since proportions of easily usable mobile (reactive) phosphorus and immobile phosphorus forms in different sediments can vary. Our study suggested possible feedbacks between different forms of phosphorus and bacterial community composition.

How entire microbial communities are structured across stratified sediments from the historical standpoint is unknown. The Baltic Sea is an ideal research object for historical reconstruction, since it has experienced many fresh- and brackish water periods and is depleted of dissolved oxygen, which increases the sediment's preservation potential. We investigated the bacterial communities, chemical elements (e.g. Cr, Pb Na, P, Sr and U) and sediment composition in a stratified sediment core dated by radiocarbon and spanning 8000 years of Baltic Sea history, using up-to-date multivariate statistics. The communities were analysed by 16S rRNA gene terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. The communities of the deep Early Litorina and surface Late Litorina Sea laminae were separated from the communities of the middle Litorina Sea laminae, which were associated with elevated concentrations of U and Sr trace elements, palaeo-oxygen and palaeosalinity proxies. Thus, the Litorina Sea laminae were characterized by past oxygen deficiency and salinity increase. The communities of the laminae, bioturbated and homogeneous sediments were differentiated, based on the same historical sea phases, with correct classifications of 90%. Palaeosalinity was one of the major parameters that separated the bacterial communities of the stratified sediments. A discontinuous spatial structure with a surprising increase in community heterogeneity was detected in Litorina Sea sediments from 388 to 422 cm deep, which suggests that a salinity maximum occurred in the central Gulf of Finland app. 6200–6600 years ago. The community heterogeneity decreased from the surface down to 306 cm, which reflected downcore mineralization. The plateau of the decrease was in the app. 2000-year-old sediment layers. Bacterial community data may be used as an additional tool in ocean-drilling projects, in which it is important to detect mineralization plateaus both to determine historically comparable portions of sediment samples and historical events, such as sea-level rise culminations.