Bacterial diversity, community structure and potential growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient.

ABSTRACT: Very little is known about growth rates of individual bacterial taxa and how they respond to environmental flux. Here, we characterized bacterial community diversity, structure and the relative abundance of 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) using pyrosequencing along the salinity gradient in the Delaware Bay. Indices of diversity, evenness, structure and growth rates of the surface bacterial community significantly varied along the transect, reflecting active mixing between the freshwater and marine ends of the estuary. There was no positive correlation between relative abundances of 16S rRNA and rDNA for the entire bacterial community, suggesting that abundance of bacteria does not necessarily reflect potential growth rate or activity. However, for almost half of the individual taxa, 16S

SUBMITTER: Campbell BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3526181 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature