Temporal and Depth-Driven Variability of Pelagic Bacterial Communities in Lake Erie: Biofilm and Plankton Dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Despite constituting an important component of freshwater ecosystems, biofilm assemblages have remained relatively understudied compared to plankton, especially in freshwater systems such as the western basin of Lake Erie (WBLE). This study therefore aimed to elucidate temporal and vertical shifts of microbial communities of planktonic and biofilm growth on artificial substrates in the WBLE water column at discrete depths, investigating the overlap of shared taxa between community types. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed concurrent biofilm-plankton samples shared a low percentage (~10%) of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) indicating distinct communities between free-living and substrate-attached bacteria. Plankton communities did not significantly differ between surface and bottom

SUBMITTER: Robinson RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11926571 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature