Sippewissett microbial mat

The Sippewissett microbial mat is a microbial mat in the Sippewissett Salt Marsh located along the lower eastern Buzzards Bay shoreline of Cape Cod, about 5 miles north of Woods Hole and 1 mile southwest of West Falmouth, Massachusetts, in the United States.

The marsh extends into an estuary in which the intertidal zone provides a dynamic environment that supports a diverse ecology, including threatened and endangered species such as the roseate tern (Sterna dougallii).

The Sippewissett Salt Marsh houses a diverse, laminated intertidal microbial mat around 1 cm thick.

The mat is characterized by regular influx of sea water, high amounts of sulfide and iron, and the production of methane.

[citation needed] The bottom layer makes up the lower 2 mm of the mat before the depth drops below the chemocline.

The black color is due to the high amounts of iron sulfide generated by the green sulfur-reducing bacteria.

[4] The metabolism of the organisms throughout each layer of the microbial mats are tightly coupled to each other and play important roles in providing nutrients for the plants and animals that live in the marsh.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Boston University Marine Program, and the Marine Biological Laboratory have been studying Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh extensively since 1970 to gain a better understanding of microbial diversity and the effects they have on geochemical cycling and nutrient cycling for other organisms.