North-Patagonian shallow mountain lakes

In the North Patagonian Andes, (41S), the treeline (1650 m a.s.l.) is constituted by Nothofagus pumilio deciduous forest, with krummholz forms towards the upper limit. A large number of shallow lakes are located both below (subalpine lakes) and above this line (alpine lakes). The main objective of this project is to analyze differences in the bacterial community composition and to analyze experimentally how different sources of DOC modify the rates of respiration and C-consumption of bacterial communities.