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Sediment Microbial Community Diversity And Function In Response To Legacy And Prevailing Pollutants In Southern Ontario Watersheds, Nicolas Falk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Managing and mitigating point and non-point contamination to freshwater resources depends on reliable and sensitive monitoring of ecosystem health. Microorganisms in surface waters and sediments respond rapidly to anthropogenic disturbances, making them valuable bioindicators of human-induced landscape change. However, there lacks a baseline understanding of microbial community composition and function in industrially and agriculturally impacted regions of the Great Lakes. Without a reference state of microbial diversity and activity, future investigations seeking to integrate microorganisms into ecosystem assessments will lack context. Using genomic tools and measurements of chemical and nutrient contaminants, this thesis provides case studies of microbial community responses …