Stream microbial diversity in response to environmental changes: review and synthesis of existing research.

ABSTRACT: The importance of microbial activity to ecosystem function in aquatic ecosystems is well established, but microbial diversity has been less frequently addressed. This review and synthesis of 100s of published studies on stream microbial diversity shows that factors known to drive ecosystem processes, such as nutrient availability, hydrology, metal contamination, contrasting land-use and temperature, also cause heterogeneity in bacterial diversity. Temporal heterogeneity in stream bacterial diversity was frequently observed, reflecting the dynamic nature of both stream ecosystems and microbial community composition. However, within-stream spatial differences in stream bacterial diversity were more commonly observed, driven specifically by different organic matter (OM) compartments. Bacteria

SUBMITTER: Zeglin LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4435045 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature