Bacterial Diversity and Vertical Distribution Patterns in Sandy Sediments: A Study on the Bacterial Community Structure based on Environmental Factors in Tributaries of the Yangtze River

The Yangtze River, as one of the world's four or three major rivers, has a vast watershed area, a huge water system and numerous tributaries. The tributaries of the Yangtze River not only play a crucial role in the deployment of regional water resources, the protection of biodiversity, the maintenance of ecological environment, and the prosperity of coastal socio-economics, but also have a far-reaching impact on the health and stability of the entire Yangtze River ecosystem. In this study, three sample sites, Baihu Mountain (E114.61, N30.57), a mainstem of the Yangtze River, Huangzhuang (E112.55, N31.18), a tributary of the Han River, and Shengmi (E115.78, N28.53), a tributary of the Ganjiang River, were selected as the main lines of the Yangtze River and its tributaries. The microbial diversity was systematically studied from the sediment surface layer (10 cm), middle layer (50 cm), and bottom layer (90 cm), using molecular biology techniques. In order to reveal the vertical distribution pattern of microbial diversity in the sediments of the main tributaries of the Yangtze River and the main environmental driving factors, we enriched the theoretical knowledge of microbial research in Yangtze River sediments.