Aquatic bacterial community connectivity: the effect of hydrological flow on community diversity and composition

Microbial communities are vital components of freshwater ecosystems due to their role in nutrient cycling and energy flow, and while they typically exhibit high diversity and dynamic community composition, the mechanisms driving variation among communities are still being explored. Samples are collected from three water bodies (Lake Erie, Little River, and Detroit River) and the microbial communities is determined using 16SrRNA amplicon sequencing (V5--V6).