This survey of literature on substratum associated microbiota from 2015 highlights research findings associated with benthic algae and bacteria from a variety of aquatic environments, but primarily freshwaters. It focuses on topics of interest to the Water Environment Federation along with those of current emerging interest such as global change, oil spills, and environmental contaminants like pharmaceutical compounds, microplastics, nanoparticles and organic pollutants. Other interesting findings briefly covered include areas of general ecology, nutrient cycling, trophic interactions, water quality, nuisance and invasive species, bioindicators, and bioremediation.