Stream and lake network position structures freshwater microbial communities across multiple catchments

Bacterial community composition shifts sharply at stream–lake confluence across 58 Swiss catchments, with the stream-to-lake turnover pattern repeatable in all analyzed networks.

• Why it matters: Hydrologically connected freshwater networks may impose dispersal and environmental filters, but it is unclear how strongly stream versus lake position structures bacterial communities across catchments.
• What they did: The study analyzed 224 water samples from 58 streams draining into eight lakes in Switzerland using 16S metabarcoding, comparing community composition, diversity, and dispersion across the continuum and among catchments.
• The result: Lake communities showed lower alpha diversity and lower beta dispersion than streams, while catchment-level differences were more pronounced in lakes, captured by shifts in relative abundance of widespread core taxa.

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