This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Servais, P.
Right arrow Articles by Rego, J. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Servais, P.
Right arrow Articles by Rego, J. V.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Servais, P.
Right arrow Articles by Rego, J. V.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 June; 49(6): 1448-1454
Copyright © 1985, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rate of Bacterial Mortality in Aquatic Environments

Pierre Servais, Gilles Billen* and Jose Vives Rego

1 Laboratoire d'Océanographie, University of Brussels, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium, and Departamento de Microbiologia, Facultad de Biologia, Universitad de Barcelona, Barcelona-28, Spain2

ABSTRACT

A method is proposed which provides a minimum estimate of the rate of bacterial mortality in growing natural populations of planktonic bacteria. This estimate is given by the rate of decrease of radioactivity from the DNA of a [3H]thymidine-labeled natural assemblage of bacteria after all added thymidine has been exhausted from the medium. Results obtained from river water, estuarine water, and seawater show overall bacterial mortality rates in the range 0.010 to 0.030 h–1, in good agreement with the range of growth rates measured in the same environments. Use of selective filtration through Nuclepore filters (pore size, 2 µm) allowed us to determine the contribution of microzooplankton grazing to overall bacterial mortality. Grazing rates estimated by this method ranged from 0 to 0.02 h–1.

FOOTNOTES

* Corresponding author.

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 June; 49(6): 1448-1454
Copyright © 1985, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Joaquim-Justo, C., Pirlot, S., Viroux, L., Servais, P., Thome, J.-P., Descy, J.-P. (2006). Trophic links in the lowland River Meuse (Belgium): assessing the role of bacteria and protozoans in planktonic food webs. J PLANKTON RES 28: 857-870 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bettarel, Y., Sime-Ngando, T., Amblard, C., Laveran, H. (2000). A Comparison of Methods for Counting Viruses in Aquatic Systems. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 2283-2289 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»