Thesis advisor: Heather Craig Olins / Microbes play a critical role in the Earth’s ecosystems, and freshwater microbial communities are underappreciated players in biogeochemical cycles. Vernal pools are ecologically important habitats that are particularly sensitive to global warming. Microbial communities in vernal pools and other freshwater wetlands are both critical to supporting life on Earth as well as incredibly vulnerable to climate change. This thesis describes for the first time microbial community composition in freshwater wetlands in Newton, Massachusetts. Beta diversity analysis reveals that sites host distinct microbial communities, something not always seen at these spatial scales. Sediment samples from the Bare Pond vernal pool were dominated by Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Chloroflexi. Analysis of surface vs. subsurface sediment samples reveal taxonomic patterns that cross multiple sites. These findings are a first step towards better understanding ecologically important microbial activity in these local sites, and freshwater wetlands more broadly. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Biology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_108798 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Pandji, Josephine |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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