Seonah Jeong

Abstract Industrialization and urbanization have led to increased levels of heavy metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Heavy metals exhibit toxicity even at low concentrations, posing risks to aquatic organisms, human health, and overall ecosystem health. To investigate bacterial community responses to arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) contamination, a microcosm experiment was conducted, followed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and indicator species were identified for each metal.