Microbial Ecology

Surface aquatic habitats, such as lakes or rivers, are much more influenced by fluctuations in their environment than subsurface habitats. Fluctuations can be natural, such as the climate or seasonal changes, or anthropogenic, such as the construction of dams, or the salting of roads in winter. The microbial communities that make up these aquatic habitats will therefore also be subject to these modifications from the outside world, and will undergo changes in their diversity and metabolic activities.