Diversity of Culturable Bacteria of Freshwater Environments from an Altitudinal Gradient in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia.

Bacteria are an essential biotic component in freshwater environments. A group of 262 bacterial strains of freshwater environments from an altitudinal gradient in Eastern Cordillera of Colombia was identified using the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Hill numbers and related diversity indices were calculated to know the bacteria diversity in this collection and environments. In addition, the Bray-Curtis index was also calculated to know the differences in genera composition between sampled localities and their relationship with altitudinal gradient. The identified bacterial strains were grouped into 7 major phylogenetic groups (Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia, Actinomycetes, Clostridia, and Bacilli), 38 genera and 84 distinctive species. Diversity analysis based on Hill numbers showed that the diversity concerning bacteria inhabiting freshwater environments was consistently high. Dominant genera were Klebsiella, Serratia, and Pseudomonas, although other genera such as Bacillus, Lelliottia, and Obesumbacterium were well represented per locality. The highest bacterial diversity came from localities Cimitarra and El Carmen del Chucurí, while those originating from Santa Bárbara and Páramo del Almorzadero were relatively lower diverse. Differences in diversity were found to be mainly due to the spatial replacement of one genus by another and, to a lesser extent, to the loss or gain of taxa.