In the right place, at the right time: the integration of bacteria into the Plankton Ecology Group model.

Background: Planktonic microbial communities have critical impacts on the pelagic food web and water quality status in freshwater ecosystems, yet no general model of bacterial community assembly linked to higher trophic levels and hydrodynamics has been assessed. In this study, we utilized a 2-year survey of planktonic communities from bacteria to zooplankton in three freshwater reservoirs to investigate their spatiotemporal dynamics.

Results: We observed site-specific occurrence and microdiversification of bacteria in lacustrine and riverine environments, as well as in deep hypolimnia.