Theory suggests that variation in the attractive solvation force associated with cell-surface hydrophobicity can significantly affect contact rates among small cells in aqueous environments and consequently may influence rates and selective impacts of marine nanoflagellate grazers feeding on picoplankton assemblages. To investigate this hypothesis, we assayed the natural range in hydrophobic ch...

Iron (Fe) uptake by the microbial community and the contribution of three different size fractions was determined during spring phytoplankton blooms in the naturally Fe-fertilized area off the Kerguelen Islands (KEOPS2). Total Fe uptake in surface waters was on average 34± 6 pmolFeL d, and microplankton (> 25 μm size fraction; 40–69 %) and pico-nanoplankton (0.8–25 μm size fraction; 29–59 %) we...

Objective To characterize the heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria. Methods The bacteria were isolated from membrane bioreactor for treating synthetic wastewater using the method newly introduced in this study. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to validate the nonexistence of autotrophic ammonia oxidizers and nitrite oxidizers. Batch tests were carried out to investigate the capab...

mT7 medium performed no better than m-Endo medium in enumerating cells of Escherichia coli and Citrobacter freundii exposed to ozone. Also, there was no difference in the plate count of heterotrophic bacteria in ozonated raw water determined on modified Henrici agar or R2A agar. Statistically significant differences were seen between bacteria and the type of water in which they were suspended d...

Heterotrophic growth of microalgae presents significant economic advantages over the more common autotrophic cultivation. The efficiency of growth and nitrogen, phosphorus, and glucose uptake from synthetic wastewater was compared under heterotrophic, autotrophic, and mixotrophic regimes of Chlorella vulgaris Beij. immobilized in alginate beads, either alone or with the bacterium Azospirillum b...

Acidophilic, heterotrophic bacteria isolated from acidic mine effluent metabolised a range of aliphatic compounds. Aliphatic acids, which are normally thought to be toxic to acidophiles, were utilised as substrates for energy and growth by these bacteria. This biodegradative ability, concomitant with their tolerance of heavy metals, has demonstrated the potential for using these organisms for t...

A study on the occurrence and chitinolytic activity of planktonic, benthic and epiphytic bacteria was carried out in the Moty Bay of Lake Jeziorak near Ilawa. The greatest number of chitinolytic bacteria occurred on macrophytes. In terms of percentages, the chitinolytic bacteria share among heterotrophic bacteria was much greater in epiphytic and planktonic bacteria than in benthic ones. When c...

The occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs), caused by toxic phytoplankton, has detrimental environmental, economic and human health effects within many aquatic habitats (Horner et al., 1997). Understanding the environmental conditions that control the development and decline of HABs has consequently become an important element of ecosystem management within heavily affected environments. Pot...

Prokaryotes and protists are important players in the carbon biogeochemistry of marine ecosystems, and temperature is one of the physical factors most influential in the metabolism and composition of plankton communities. Small changes in temperature can change the flow of carbon and the community structure of planktonic ecosystems, and climatological models predict a rise in temperature of 2 t...