Synonyms
Algal mats; Bacterial mats; Biomats; Thick biofilms
Definition
Microbial mats are often centimeter-thick multilayered structures of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, archaea, fungi, and sometimes these mats are enriched with protozoans. Microbial biofilms are in contrast much thinner (10–100 µm) than microbial mats and have a different architecture (Characklis and Wilderer, 1989). Microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material, mostly on moist surfaces, but some of them are also found in dry environments like deserts (e.g., Stal and Caumette, 1994; Characklis and Wilderer, 1989). They colonize environments located in high altitude, they are common in the Deep Biosphere, in subterranean environments with temperatures from −40°C to +120°C. There are also common as endosymbiontic structures, for example, in animals. They are very common in extreme environments like hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and alkaline and hypersaline lakes (Van Dover, 2000;...
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Reitner, J. (2011). Microbial Mats. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_145
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_145
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