Bacterial abundances in groundwater and mesocosms supplemented with necromass. Average 16S rRNA gene copy numbers within the original groundwater (white), as well as within the incubations on days 2, 4, and 8 after necromass addition in the 12C (green) and 13C (orange) mesocosms. Error bars show the standard deviation of three samples. P values were derived from Student's t test and indicated by asterisks (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001).