The purpose of this study was to assess seasonal variations in bacterial community composition in Tapi River. Samples from three selected sites along the Tapi River stretch were collected and analyzed for various physico-chemical properties as well as microbial load and composition of bacterial communities. The number of total viable counts as well as bacterial isolation and identification were done by using Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Observations revealed that Gammaproteobacteria was dominating the community in bacterial assemblage followed by Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. During summer season diverse bacterial genera were observed with higher bacterial load, while in winter, diversity was poor with relatively lower bacterial load. Comparatively lower bacterial load and less genera diversity was reported during monsoon. The most frequently found bacterial isolate was Pseudomonas and the least abundant bacteria were Flavobacterium. It was also observed that concentrations of nutrients play their role to determine the community composition. | Seasonal variations in bacterial community composition in Tapi river Surat Gujarat India
