Divergent Responses of Bacterial and Microeukaryotic Diversity to Water-Level Fluctuations in a Lake-Floodplain System.

Microeukaryotic richness in Dongting Lake was higher in high-water (HWP; August 2024) than low-water (LWP; January 2024), with p=0.3.

• Why it matters: Water-level fluctuations are expected to increase aquatic diversity, but microbial richness may not follow this pattern, creating uncertainty about how bacteria versus microeukaryotes respond.
• What they did: Bacterial and microeukaryotic assemblages were profiled using 16S and 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in Dongting Lake during LWP and HWP, then analyzed for richness differences, co-occurrence structure, and DOC-linked pathways.
• The result: Co-occurrence networks showed stronger bacteria–microeukaryote associations at HWP, and PLS path modelling supported a DOC-to-bacteria-to-microeukaryotes pathway active only in HWP, implying hydrological connectivity may enhance coalescence.

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