Fecal microorganisms can enter water bodies in diverse ways, including runoff, sewage discharge, and direct fecal deposition. Once in water, the microorganisms experience conditions that are very different from intestinal habitats. The transition from host to aquatic environment may lead to rapid inactivation, some degree of persistence, or growth. Microorganisms may remain planktonic, be deposited in sediment, wash up on beaches, or attach to aquatic vegetation. Each of these habitats offers a panoply of different stressors or advantages, including UV light exposure, temperature fluctuations, salinity, nutrient availability, and biotic interactions with the indigenous microbiota (e.g., predation and/or competition). The host sources of fecal microorganisms are likewise numerous, including wildlife, pets, livestock, and humans. Most of these microorganisms are unlikely to affect human health, but certain taxa can cause waterborne disease. Others signal increased probability of pathogen presence, e.g., the fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli and enterococci and bacteriophages, or act as fecal source identifiers (microbial source tracking markers). The effects of environmental factors on decay are frequently inconsistent across microbial species, fecal sources, and measurement strategies (e.g., culture versus molecular). Therefore, broad generalizations about the fate of fecal microorganisms in aquatic environments are problematic, compromising efforts to predict microbial decay and health risk from contamination events. This review summarizes the recent literature on decay of fecal microorganisms in aquatic environments, recognizes defensible generalizations, and identifies knowledge gaps that may provide particularly fruitful avenues for obtaining a better understanding of the fates of these organisms in aquatic environments.

中文翻译：

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水生栖息地粪便微生物群的持久性和衰减。

粪便微生物可以多种方式进入水体，包括径流，污水排放和直接粪便沉积。一旦进入水中，微生物所经历的条件与肠道栖息地就大不相同。从寄主向水生环境的过渡可能导致快速灭活，一定程度的持久性或生长。微生物可能保持浮游性，沉积在沉积物中，在海滩上冲刷或附着在水生植物上。这些生境中的每一个都具有不同的压力源或优势，包括紫外线照射，温度波动，盐度，养分利用率以及与本地微生物的生物相互作用（例如，捕食和/或竞争）。粪便微生物的宿主来源同样很多，包括野生生物，宠物，牲畜和人类。这些微生物中的大多数不太可能影响人类健康，但某些分类单元可能导致水传播疾病。其他信号表明病原体存在的可能性增加，例如，粪便指示菌大肠杆菌，肠球菌和噬菌体，或充当粪便来源识别符（微生物来源跟踪标记）。在微生物物种，粪便来源和测量策略（例如，培养与分子）之间，环境因素对腐烂的影响通常是不一致的。因此，关于粪便微生物在水生环境中的命运的广泛概括是有问题的，损害了从污染事件中预测微生物衰变和健康风险的努力。这篇综述总结了有关粪便微生物在水生环境中腐烂的最新文献，认识到可以辩护的概括，