Microbial Communities in Shoreline Sand, Sediment, and Water

Current understanding of sand-water interactions of microbial communities in freshwater shorelines is limited. Much of the focus on microbial communities in sand is devoted to microbes of public health concern due, in part, to the human recreational activities in beach environments. In this study, the microbial community composition, determined by16S rRNA gene sequencing, was used to determine the potential in shoreline sand, nearshore water, and underlying sediment exchange of microbes at three locations in Lake Michigan. Findings will help explain the dynamics of water quality contamination and characterize shoreline health in Lake Michigan, which will be useful in prioritizing restoration of degraded shorelines, a focus of recent efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.