Microbial biogeography along an estuarine salinity gradient: combined influences of bacterial growth and residence time.

ABSTRACT: Shifts in bacterioplankton community composition along the salinity gradient of the Parker River estuary and Plum Island Sound, in northeastern Massachusetts, were related to residence time and bacterial community doubling time in spring, summer, and fall seasons. Bacterial community composition was characterized with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA. Average community doubling time was calculated from bacterial production ([(14)C]leucine incorporation) and bacterial abundance (direct counts). Freshwater and marine populations advected into the estuary represented a large fraction of the bacterioplankton community in all seasons. However, a unique estuarine community formed at intermediate salinities in summer and fall, when average doubling

SUBMITTER: Crump BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC365029 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature