Biofilm community structure in polluted rivers: abundance of dominant phylogenetic groups over a complete annual cycle
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Updated: Sep 20, 2026

Methods for Characterizing the Co-development of Biofilm and Habitat Heterogeneity
Published on: March 11, 2015
I H Brümmer1, W Fehr, I Wagner-Döbler
1Division of Microbiology, National Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF), D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Abstract:
The seasonal dynamics of river biofilm communities in two German rivers, the Elbe and one of its tributaries, the Spittelwasser, were investigated for the first time by using fluorescence in situ hybridization and a standardized biofilm sampling procedure. We show the importance of members of the beta subclass of the class Proteobacteria, which formed the largest single group in the massively polluted Spittelwasser at all times. Clear seasonal peaks of abundance were observed for the planctomycetes and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium cluster.
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