Mature community
Definition
An established biofilm that behaves as a structured, layered system with internal channels, gradients, and multiple species.
A mature biofilm is a layered city built at the scale of microns, with channels that move nutrients and waste and gradients of oxygen and pH across its depth. Oxygen may be plentiful near the surface and depleted at the base, while pH stays neutral at the top and drifts acidic at the metal interface. Different species occupy different niches, each exploiting the environment created by the others, so internal conditions bear no resemblance to the bulk water.
Related concepts
Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) · Oxygen gradient · pH gradient
Part of The Blueprint of Water · 🦠 biology