High resolution depth profiles of bacterial communities reveal pronounced spatio-temporal dynamics related to lake stratification

With this work we intend to stress the importance of considering high resolution depth sampling for stratified aquatic systems. Depth is a very important parameter to consider when sampling bacterial communities, as their abundance and composition can change within even a few cm. Stratified lakes are good model systems to study these connections since changes in environmental parameters can occur on a cm-scale at the termo- and/or chemocline, as compared to similar gradients (e.g. oxygen) surrounding aquatic and soil particles where this may happen even on a μm-scale.