Microbial Communities in Cave Waters Across Karst Regions of Virginia

Authors

Drake, R. S., Kosic Ficco, K., Malabad, T. E., Orndorff, W.

Abstract

Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we characterized aquatic microbial communities in eight Virginia caves. Cave waters are part of broader karst aquifer systems that supply domestic, agricultural, and municipal water and harbor ~200 endemic invertebrates. We identified 3,899 unique amplicon sequence variants and found that caves hosted diverse, site-specific microbial assemblages.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 11 Aug 2026.

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