Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 80 (2): 213-224, 2007
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Bacterial diversity in the sediments of a temperate artificial lake, Rapel
reservoir
Rapel reservoir is an eutrophic system in Chile that has undergone a series of
anthropogenic impacts in recent decades. To provide a better understanding of the processes occurring in the reservoir, we examined
bacterial composition from surface sediments using traditional microbiology techniques and molecular biology tools. Our results
showed significant temporal variation in the physical and chemical composition of the water column, but no depth-related differences
during the study period. To detect temporal changes in bacterial composition, cultivable heterotrophic bacteria, heterotrophic iron
oxidizing bacteria, and sulfate-reducing bacteria were extracted from the surface sediments and their concentration measured.
Microbial diversity in sediments was represented by closest relatives of eight different bacterial phyla. The most frequently recovered
phylotypes in the clone library of 16S rDNA were related to sulfate-reducing bacteria belong to the Deltaproteobacteria
group.
Key words:
sediments, sulfate-
reducing bacteria, 16S rDNA
