Headwater Stream Microbial Diversity and Function across Agricultural and Urban Land Use Gradients.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic activity impacts stream ecosystems, resulting in a loss of diversity and ecosystem function; however, little is known about the response of aquatic microbial communities to changes in land use. Here, microbial communities were characterized in 82 headwater streams across a gradient of urban and agricultural land uses using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and compared to a rich data set of physicochemical variables and traditional benthic invertebrate indicators. Microbial diversity and community structures differed among watersheds with high agricultural, urban, and forested land uses, and community structure differed in streams classified as being in good, fair, poor, and very poor condition using benthic invertebrate indicators. Microbial community similarity decayed with

SUBMITTER: Laperriere SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7237783 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature