Structural and functional characteristics of planktonic microbial communities of the Rybinsk Reservoir in the impact area of a large industrial center

In sites of the Rybinsk Reservoir with different levels of contamination by the municipal and industrial wastewater from the city of Cherepovets, the primary production of phytoplankton and the quantitative distribution of bacterioplankton, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, and viruses, as well as the content of finely disperse detritus, were investigated. The structural and functional characteristics of microbial communities form the contaminated sites were determined. Heterotrophic nanoflagellates were shown to play a major role in the consumption of bacterioplankton production.