fresh water metagenome Targeted loci

Lakes and other freshwater bodies are intimately connected to the surrounding land, yet to what extent land-use affects the quality of freshwater and the microbial communities living in these waters is still unclear. We address these questions through an analysis of the land use surrounding 46 inter-connected lakes located within 7 drainage basins in northern Germany, and the microbiomes of these lakes during early summer. Lake microbiome structure was not determined by the specific drainage basin or by basin size, and bacterial distribution did not seem to be limited by distance. Instead, land use within the drainage basin could predict, to some extent, NO2+NO3 and chlorophyll concentrations in the water, and these parameters (together with temperature and total phosphorus) affected water microbiome structure. Land use directly surrounding the water bodies had little observable effect on water quality or the microbiome. Several microbial lineages, including environmentally important Cyanobacteria and Verrucomicrobia, were differentialy partitioned between the lakes. As the amount of available data on land use (e.g. from remote sensing) increases, identifying relationships between land use, aquatic microbial communities and their effect on water quality is a critical step in developing appropriate water management strategies.