Higher variability of bacterial communities across space than over time in Antarctic lakes, and contrasting assembly processes.

ABSTRACT: As sentinels of environmental changes, Antarctic lakes are ideal systems for studying the temporal and spatial dynamics of microbial communities. However, the relative magnitude and underlying mechanisms driving these variations remain poorly understood. Studying the spatiotemporal variation of microbial communities is crucial to provide a robust baseline for predicting ecosystem responses to global changes. Here, we investigated the spatial and inter-annual variation of bacterial community structure and their underlying assembly processes across sediment and water habitats in 11 lakes on the Fildes Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica, sampled during austral summers from 2017 to 2023, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The communities primarily clustered by habitat, with higher diversity in sedime

SUBMITTER: Ahumada D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12628676 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature