Wallace's line structures seagrass microbiota and is a potential barrier to the dispersal of marine bacteria.

Background: The processes that shape microbial biogeography are not well understood, and concepts that apply to macroorganisms, like dispersal barriers, may not affect microorganisms in the same predictable ways. To better understand how known macro-scale biogeographic processes can be applied at micro-scales, we examined seagrass associated microbiota on either side of Wallace's line to determine the influence of this cryptic dispersal boundary on the community structure of microorganisms. Communities were examined from twelve locations throughout Indonesia on either side of this theoretical line.