Network Analysis Indicates Microbial Assemblage Differences in Life Stages of .

represents a microscopic forest that provides many ecological niches and fosters a diverse microbiota. However, the microbial community on in brackish lakes is still poorly understood. In this study, the epiphytic bacterial communities of in Qinghai Lake were investigated at three life stages (attached, floating, and decomposing). We found that in the attached stage, was enriched with chemoheterotrophic and aerobic microorganisms, including - and . The proportion of phototrophic bacteria was higher in the floating stage, especially . The decomposing stage fostered an abundance of bacteria that showed vertical heterogeneity from the surface to the bottom. The surface layer of contained mainly stress-tolerant chemoheterotrophic and photoheterotrophic bacteria, including and . The microbial community in the middle layer was similar to that of floating-stage . Purple oxidizing bacteria were enriched in the bottom layer, with , , and as the dominant genera. The Shannon and Chao1 indices of epibiotic bacterial communities increased monotonically from the attached stage to the decomposing stage. Microbial community composition and functional predictions indicate that a large number of sulfur cycle-associated bacteria play an important role in the development of . These results suggest that the microbial assemblage on in a brackish lake is complex and contributes to the cycling of materials. represents a microscopic forest that provides many ecological niches fostering a diverse microbiota, with a complex and intimate relationship between and bacteria. Many studies have focused on the microbiology of freshwater , but the composition and succession of microorganisms in different life stages of , especially in brackish water, have not been explored. In this study, we investigated the microbial assemblages in the life stages of in the brackish Qinghai Lake. We show that heterotrophic and photosynthetic autotrophic bacteria are enriched in attached and floating , respectively, whereas the epiphytic bacterial community shows vertical heterogeneity in decomposing mats.