Temporal and spatial coastal microbial mat diversity

Here we studied the seasonal development of coastal microbial mats 0n the North Sea beach of the Dutch barrier island Schiermonnikoog. The beach harbors three distinct microbial mat types along a natural salinity gradient . These three mats were sampled in spring, summer and autumn for DNA and RNA extraction from which we obtained insight in spatial and temporal patterns in the resident (DNA) and active (RNA) microbial community composition through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.