Annual patterns in bacterioplankton community variability in a humic lake

Bacterioplankton community composition (BCC) was monitored in a shallow humic lake in northern Wisconsin, USA, over 3 years using automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA). Comparison of ARISA profiles of bacterial communities over time indicated that BCC was highly variable on a seasonal and annual scale. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis indicated little similarity in BCC from year to year. Nevertheless, annual patterns in bacterioplankton community diversity were observed. Trends in bacterioplankton community diversity were correlated to annual patterns in community succession observed for phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, consistent with the notion that food web interactions affect bacterioplankton community structure in this humic lake. Bacterioplankton communities experience a dramatic drop in richness and abundance each year in early summer, concurrent with an increase in the abundance of both mixotrophic and heterotrophic flagellates. A second drop in richness, but not abundance, is observed each year in late summer, coinciding with an intense bloom of the nonphagotrophic dinoflagellate Peridinium limbatum. A relationship between bacterial community composition, size, and abundance and the population dynamics of Daphnia was also observed. The noted synchrony between these major population and species shifts suggests that linkages across trophic levels play a role in determining the annual time course of events for the microbial and metazoan components of the plankton.