Microbial Community Composition in Lakes - Taxonomic/Ecological characteristics of the sample at North Temperate Lakes LTER 2000 - 2007

Microbial community composition is inferred by a combination of automated ribosomal
intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) and PCR-generated clone library analysis. Clone libraries
include both the 16S rRNA gene and the 16S-23S ribosomal intergenic spacer fragment.
Phylogenetic assignments for individual ARISA fragments are obtained by comparing the ARISA
fragment length from each clone to all of the profiles stored in our database. We have
analyzed over 3900 clones obtained from 41 lakes that represent the range of trophic types
found in temperate landscapes. Querying by a combination of taxonomic and ecological
characteristics of the sample allows the user to retrieve sample information [sample IDs,
sample dates, lake information (region, type, size, depth) and physical/chemical data (water
temperature, clarity, pH, DOC, SUVA, TN, TP, nitrates/nitrites)] and clone information
[clone IDs, sequence data, and characteristics of the sequence (length, chimera status,
accession number, taxonomic affiliation)]. The data can be filtered by ecological
characteristics of the sample [lake name, sample date, lake information (region, type, size,
depth)] and taxonomic characteristics of the community members [clone ID, ARISA fragment
length (raw or binned), and/or taxonomic characteristics (Phylum and Phylum-Class)]. The
output can include links to individual sample records, which contain links to the taxonomic
composition of the sample inferred by dynamically matching clones to ARISA fragments in the
individual sample. The output can also include links to clone records directly (though this
creates a very large number of lines in the output and is not recommended). Project ID's 30
Lakes - Survey of 30 lakes in northern and southern Wisconsin. June, August and October,
2002. See http://microbes.limnology.wisc.edu/lakes30.html. Lake Characteristics. CB0000 -
Time series monitoring microbial community composition in Crystal Bog. 2000-2002. CBX_02 -
Food web manipulation experiment in Crystal Bog. Summer, 2002.