Effects of bottom sediments on the survival of Enterobacter aerogenes in seawater |
| |
| Authors: | Kwong-Yu Chan SH Wong CY Mak |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong |
| |
| Abstract: | The survival of the coliform bacterium Enterobacter aerogenes in seawater was greatly affected by the underlying bottom sediments. The presence of sediments which contained higher concentrations of organic nutrients than the overlaying seawater prolonged the survival and even enabled growth of the bacterial cells. Results obtained from chemical analysis indicated that sediments of fine-grained, silt-clay type contained highest amounts of organic nutrients as compared with sediments with larger particle sizes such as silt and sand grains. Thus, nutrient contents of the sediments were found to be inversely proportional to sediment particle size. The degree of prolonged survival of E. aerogenes was also found to be inversely proportional to the size of the sediment particles presented. Release of the bound nutrients which became available to cells of E. aerogenes from sediments by action of waves and human activities can explain, at least in part, why high counts of coliform bacteria are obtained in coastal and beach waters. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
