Expedition on board RV “G. Titov”, August 02 – 07, 2018

The expedition was carried out within the framework of the program “Microbial and Viral Communities in Biofilms of Freshwater Ecosystems: Taxonomic Diversity, Functioning and Biotechnological Potential” on board RV “G. Titov”, August 02 – 07, 2018 in the littoral zone of Lake Baikal at five stations of Southern and Central Baikal.

The expedition was aimed at studying the content and structure of microbial communities in biofilm associations (neuston and biofilms formed on the stony substrates) and the water column based on morphological, physiological and biochemical, as well as molecular genetic data.

The researchers from the V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS participated in the expedition. They evaluated the anthropogenic impact, calculated the touristic flow and described the infrastructure in the areas, where microbiological samples were taken.

During the expedition, 56 water samples, 10 neuston samples, 15 samples of epilithic biofilms were taken to determine chemical indicators, temperature, total bacterial number, cultured groups of microorganisms (more than 3 thousand inoculations), as well as to obtain the total bacterial DNA.