Fayetteville Green Lake Particle Interceptor Trap collection 16S rRNA amplicons
The aquatic biological pump sequesters most carbon dioxide globally. Over geologic time, remineralization of photoautotroph-rich aggregates by this mechanism likely differed due to the evolutionary history of photosynthesizers and oxidant availability. For most of the history of Earth, the ocean was anoxic with expanses of sulfidic photic zones hosting sulfur-oxidizing photoautotrophs, yet studies of sinking particles in similar modern environments are lacking. Therefore, we determined the 16S rRNA diversity and composition of particles collected by and total prokaryote cells fluxes to traps in permanently redox stratified Fayetteville Green Lake over photoautotroph bloom stages. During peak and end stages, we determined taxa enriched in sinking particles compared to the water.