Oxygen Consumption of River Muds

Abstract

latter authors determining not only these oxygen profiles but also the oxygen consumption of deposits. Hayes & MacAulay (1959), in an investigation of American lake deposits, showed a relation between bacterial numbers in the surface layers of sediments, as determined by a plating procedure, and the oxygen consumption of these sediments. Edwards (1958a) from a study of redox-potential distribution in muds, suggested that the invertebrate populations could greatly affect the oxygen consumption of muds directly by their own respiration and indirectly by increasing the depth of the aerobic surface layer. The principal aims of the study described here were (1) to determine the oxygen consumption of several river sediments at different seasons, sediment depths, temperatures and oxygen concentrations in the overlying water, and (2) to relate the oxygen consumption under standard environmental conditions to other parameters of biological activity and nutrient supply.