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dc.contributor.authorMalarkey, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorBaas, Jaco
dc.contributor.authorHope, Julie Anne
dc.contributor.authorAspden, Rebecca Jane
dc.contributor.authorParsons, Daniel R.
dc.contributor.authorPeakall, Jeff
dc.contributor.authorPaterson, David Maxwell
dc.contributor.authorSchindler, Robert
dc.contributor.authorYe, Leiping
dc.contributor.authorLichtman, Ian D.
dc.contributor.authorBass, Sarah J.
dc.contributor.authorDavies, Alan G.
dc.contributor.authorManning, Andrews J.
dc.contributor.authorThorne, Peter D.
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-09T11:01:03Z
dc.date.available2015-02-09T11:01:03Z
dc.date.issued2015-02-06
dc.identifier.citationMalarkey , J , Baas , J , Hope , J A , Aspden , R J , Parsons , D R , Peakall , J , Paterson , D M , Schindler , R , Ye , L , Lichtman , I D , Bass , S J , Davies , A G , Manning , A J & Thorne , P D 2015 , ' The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development ' , Nature Communications , vol. 6 , 6257 . https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257en
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 166212993
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: a3d7892e-63c4-43b8-a45d-63aa9e6c47a8
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 84923095156
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000350202800007
dc.identifier.otherPubMed: 25656496
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0003-1174-6476/work/47136347
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0001-6165-230X/work/140361427
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/6077
dc.descriptionThis work was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under the ‘COHBED’ project (NE/1027223/1). Irvine Davidson, Jack Maunder and Louise Russell are thanked for their help in collecting the field samples. Katie Scarff is thanked for her help with the experiments. D.M.P. received funding from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS).en
dc.description.abstractSediment fluxes in aquatic environments are crucially dependent on bedform dynamics. However, sediment-flux predictions rely almost completely on clean-sand studies, despite most environments being composed of mixtures of non-cohesive sands, physically cohesive muds and biologically cohesive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) generated by microorganisms. EPS associated with surficial biofilms are known to stabilize sediment and increase erosion thresholds. Here we present experimental data showing that the pervasive distribution of low levels of EPS throughout the sediment, rather than the high surficial levels of EPS in biofilms, is the key control on bedform dynamics. The development time for bedforms increases by up to two orders of magnitude for extremely small quantities of pervasively distributed EPS. This effect is far stronger than for physical cohesion, because EPS inhibit sand grains from moving independently. The results highlight that present bedform predictors are overly simplistic, and the associated sediment transport processes require re-assessment for the influence of EPS.
dc.format.extent6
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofNature Communicationsen
dc.rightsCopyright © 2019 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectBiological cohesionen
dc.subjectSediment erosionen
dc.subjectEPSen
dc.subjectBedform dynamicsen
dc.subjectQH301 Biologyen
dc.subjectGE Environmental Sciencesen
dc.subjectEnvironmental Science(all)en
dc.subjectNDASen
dc.subjectBDCen
dc.subjectR2Cen
dc.subject.lccQH301en
dc.subject.lccGEen
dc.titleThe pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform developmenten
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.sponsorNERCen
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Biologyen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Sediment Ecology Research Groupen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Instituteen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotlanden
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Instituteen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7257
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.date.embargoedUntil2015-02-06
dc.identifier.grantnumberNE/I02478X/1en


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