Microbial cellular abundance growth response through epifluorescent microscopy from the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina USA from 2021-2022

Microbial cellular abundance was enumerated for two microcosm incubation experiments to track the growth response of the microbial community. This dataset targets bacterial and phytoplankton abundance through epiflorescent microscopy. Sample water originated from the West Bay of the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina USA in 2021 and 2022. The microcosms were 60-L, conducted in biological duplicates under three light treatment incubations: 12 h light-dark cycle of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), 12 h light-dark cycle of UV-B radiation, or darkness. Unfiltered sample water was stained with SYBR Green I (Fall 2021 experiment) or DAPI (Spring 2022 experiment) for enumeration at 60x for bacterial and cyanobacterial abundance. Autofluorescence from excitation at 620 nm and 60x was used to enumerate small phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. This dataset highlights patterns in microbial growth across treatments over the course of the incubation and is used to generate cell-specific, normalized rates for associated datasets in the project.