Differing patterns in community composition and diversity of biofilm-forming bacteria and fungi along a large salinity gradient

Bacterial biofilm communities along a 2300-km Baltic Sea salinity gradient show diversity lowest at intermediate salinity, while fungal diversity lacks a clear salinity pattern.

• Why it matters: Biofilms drive microbial activity in aquatic ecosystems, yet bacterial and fungal community responses to strong environmental gradients—especially salinity—remain poorly resolved.
• What they did: Biofilms were sampled from 42 shallow benthic ecosystems across August 2018, with bacteria and fungi profiled by Illumina MiSeq sequencing and environmental variables including salinity, nutrients, wind exposure, and temperature measured.
• The result: Bacterial communities were mainly controlled by salinity and shifted in dominant orders across high, intermediate, and low salinity, whereas fungal communities were jointly controlled by salinity, water temperature, wind exposure, and nutrients.

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