Environmental Microorganisms in Sediments
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 3
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aquatic sediments (marine, freshwater and subglacial) cover about 74% of the Earth’s surface and are one of the largest microbial reservoirs on Earth. While at first sight sediments often seem to be just mud, they vary strongly with respect to their biogeochemical conditions, including, for example, shallow photosynthetically active microbial mats or methanogenic deep subsurface layers. While some sediments are atmospheric pressure, others experience over 100 MPa. Sediment temperatures range from below freezing to more than 100°C, and sediment pH values can be extremely acidic or alkaline, for example, when impacted by mining waste.
Over the last few decades our knowledge about sediment microbial community composition has increased significantly. Using metagenomics and biogeochemical approaches helped to detect active microbial communities, even hundreds of metres beneath the seafloor or in subglacial sediments, habitats previously thought to be devoid of life. Nevertheless, despite the progress made and due to the large variety of sediment habitats, our knowledge of their microbial communities and their role in the sediment biogeochemical cycles remains sparse. This is particularly true for the role of physiological guilds or the vast number of individual species diversity.
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Microorganisms that specifically focusses on sediment microorganisms. This includes their presence and abundance, and how it correlates with environmental parameters, but also how sediment microbes are adapted to their specific habitats.
Dr. Henrik Sass
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- community
- gradients,
- adaptation
- ecophysiology
- deep biosphere
- glacial deposits
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