EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF THE COMPOSITION AND DIVERSITY OF THE BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES PRESENT IN RIVERS IN THE CENTRAL SOUTH AREA OF CHILE

The knowledge of a baseline regarding bacterial communities in natural river environments and their interactions with external agents is very limited. This makes their use as bioindicators difficult. In this project, the planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities present in seven rivers in the south-central zone of Chile were analyzed in their composition, differences between water and riverbed communities and environmental conditions they face.