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USE OF IN-FIELD BIOREACTORS DEMONSTRATE GROUNDWATER FILTRATION INFLUENCES PLANKTONIC BACTERIAL COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY, BUT NOT BIOFILM COMPOSITION
Christensen, G.A., J.-W. Moon, A.M. Veach, J.J. Mosher, A.M. Wymore, J.D. van Nostrand, et al.
PLoS ONE 13(3):e0194663(2018)

The influence of exogenous microorganisms in groundwater planktonic and biofilm microbial communities was investigated using in-field bioreactors as part of DOE's Integrated Field Research Challenge. After an acclimation period with source groundwater, bioreactors received either filtered (0.22 µM filter) or unfiltered well groundwater in triplicate. Communities were tracked routinely for 23 d after filtration initiation. Results suggest that although planktonic communities were sensitive to groundwater filtration, bacterial biofilm communities were stable and resistant to filtration. Bioreactors are useful tools for addressing questions pertaining to microbial community assembly and succession. The data gained provide a first step in understanding how an extrinsic factor, such as a groundwater inoculation and flux of microbial colonizers, impacts how microbial communities assemble in environmental systems. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194663



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