DIVERSITY PATTERNS OF AGGREGATE- ASSOCIATED AND FREE-LIVING BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES IN THE GERMAN WADDEN SEA

In the water column of pelagic environments, bacteria occureither free-living or attached to macroaggregates (>500 µm)or microaggregates (<500 µm). The important role of bacteriain the energy flux and nutrient cycling on aggregates inmarine and estuarine ecosystems was recently reviewed byS