Code from: Exploring local and regional drivers of microbial biodiversity across freshwater ponds
Data files
Jul 09, 2026 version files 10.49 MB
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pond_2022_pub_figures_and_stats.html
10.42 MB
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pond_2022_pub_figures_and_stats.Rmd
73.58 KB
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README.md
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Abstract
Ponds are biodiversity hotspots that harbor diverse macro-organisms and microbial communities, despite being isolated, highly variable environments with island-like features. These factors may give rise to unique biogeographic patterns and drivers of microbial community diversity. Here, we evaluated environmental and regional drivers of pond fungal and bacterial biodiversity to determine whether these communities follow commonly observed biogeographical trends. We collected water and muck from 40 ponds across 8 states in the Eastern USA and sequenced sections of the 16S rRNA gene and ITS1 region to survey the bacterial and fungal communities and test (1) whether these communities follow latitudinal diversity gradients and distance decay relationships, and (2) if variation in community composition or richness was related to specific environmental or land-use factors. We found that pond microbial communities exhibit distinct distribution patterns and relationships with environmental drivers depending on the microhabitat and microbial taxa. For example, muck fungal communities followed latitudinal diversity gradients, but bacterial communities did not. Abiotic conditions within ponds explained more variation than surrounding land use or the distance between sites, with temperature universally linked to microbial biodiversity. All sample types displayed weak distance-decay relationships, likely because of low spatial autocorrelation in environmental conditions and the lack of connectivity across ponds.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xvr
Description of the data and file structure
Detailed description of the data collection methods can be found in the associated manuscript. Briefly, these analyses are from a survey of the microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) found in pond water and muck. Samples were collected from 40 ponds along the Eastern US.
Files and variables
File: pond_2022_pub_figures_and_stats.Rmd
Description: This R Markdown file generates the primary statistical analyses and figures for the main manuscript and supplemental materials.
File: pond_2022_pub_figures_and_stats.html
Description: This is the knitted output of the R Markdown file, formatted as a report for viewing the analyses, figures, and associated results.
Code/software
All analyses were conducted using open-source R. Software versions and required packages are listed within the markdown, which contains all code used to generate the analyses and figures. The corresponding HTML file can be viewed in any web browser.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- Raw sequences and associated metadata are publicly available in the NCBI database under BioProject accession PRJNA1378205
Data were derived from the following sources:
- Data were derived from field sampling of pond water and muck, followed by DNA extraction and high-throughput amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA and ITS1 gene regions.
