Genetic survey of bacterioplankton communities of aquatic habitats in Green Lakes Valley, 2014 - 2017

Previous work has shown high-elevation ecosystems are especially susceptible to the effects of climate change, but little work has been done on microbial communities in high-elevation aquatic systems. Therefore, my research aimed to improve our understanding of the composition, stability, and factors controlling microbial communities in high-elevation lakes in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I studied seasonal and inter-annual variations in bacterial (16S rDNA) and eukaryotic (18S rDNA) microbial communities at multiple locations (inlet, outlet, three depths in the water column) within alpine lakes over four years (2014-2017). Communities significantly differed between lake inlets and the lakes as a whole across sampling dates. The most significant variable controlling 16S and 18S community composition was lake discharge rate, indicating that water residence times play a strong role in structuring communities.