ABSTRACT
Over the last years, microbial biostabilization of fine sediments has received great attention since it impacts significantly all parts of the ETDC (Erosion, Transport, Deposition, and Consolidation) cycle (reviewed in Underwood & Paterson 2003, Gerbersdorf & Wieprecht 2015). While the focus has been on marine habitats, the enhanced stability of sediments due to biofilm growth has been reported from freshwaters recently (e.g. Schmidt et al. 2015). However, little is known about the influence of ubiquitously occurring microbes on the characteristics of resuspended sediments. In numerical modelling, the suspended sediment is still regarded as single mineral grains despite better knowledge on the complex composition of natural flocs (Droppo 2001).
