Factors influencing the persistence of fecal Bacteroides in stream water.

Laboratory microcosm experiments were used to assess the effects of environmental parameters on the persistence of the Bacteroides 16S rRNA genes derived from equine fecal samples in stream water to investigate the utility of Bacteroides spp. as fecal indicator organisms. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to measure gene concentrations over time with treatments designed to compare filtered vs.