Spatial variability of winter bacterioplankton community composition in the Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea)

We analyzed ten samples and identified 609 OTUs (operational taxanomic units), mostly members of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria. Most abundant OTUs of the dataset were identified as Sulfurimonas and Pelagibacter, which dominated the near-bottom and surface layers, respectively. Surface communities yielded about the same species richness estimates than a previous study conducted in same area during springtime.