Impact of zinc and nickel on oxygen consumption of benthic microbial communities assessed with microsensors

In this study, the effect of zinc and nickel on oxygen consumption in sediments was determined using oxygen microsensors. Sediments from the southwest lagoon of New Caledonia, in the vicinity of the city of Nouméa, were incubated nearby in situ conditions and exposed to Zn and Ni concentrations of 20 and 60 mg l−1. The depth distribution of oxygen consumption was estimated from the steady-state oxygen microprofiles, and the effects of metal were compared on the distributions before and after spiking. In most cases, metal had a strong effect on oxygen consumption at the surface. After 6 h exposure, oxygen consumption was only 10–40% of the initial value. However, the strong decrease in oxygen consumption observed at the sediment surface was counterbalanced by an increase of oxygen consumption deeper in the sediment. This is probably due to (i) a downward migration of aerobic microbial microorganisms living at the surface in order to escape the toxic effect of metal or/and (ii) a switch of the facultative aerobes from the low efficiency fermentation mode to the high-energy aerobic respiration mode.