Conclusion

This study of aquatic bacterial diversity in the waters of Barnegat Bay and the Estuarian Pond show that there is greater diversity of taxonomic entities in Barnegat Bay. The bay appears to be environmentally more heterogeneous than the pond; this could be due to salinity and/or factors we did not test. The chemical tests incorporated in the study did not indicate significant differences between the bay and pond. An interesting and unexpected result of the study is that eukaryotic clones were amplified by our bacterial primers. Further testing would be called for to understand why there is more heterogeneity in the bay and why eukaryotic clones would be amplified by a bacteria specific primer.