Bacterial community structure in soils, seepage water and groundwater of the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory

In this study we investigated the community structure of bacteria in groundwater of two superimposed limestone aquifer assemblages in the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory (Thuringia/Germany). Samples were obtained from 10 different wells along a groundwater observation transect with sampling depth ranging from 5,1 to 88 m depth. In addition, we analyzed bacterial community structure in forest soil (10 cm depth) and seepage water collected with lysimeters at 30 and 60 cm depth. Bacterial community structure was assessed by amplicon sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform, targeting the V3-V5 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene.