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EFFECT OF GROWTH RATE AND HYDROPHOBICITY ON BACTERIA SURVIVING PROTOZOAN GRAZING
Citation:
Gurijala, K. AND M. Alexander. EFFECT OF GROWTH RATE AND HYDROPHOBICITY ON BACTERIA SURVIVING PROTOZOAN GRAZING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/368.
Description:
Measurements were made of the predation by Tetrahymena thermophila on several bacterial species in media containing heat-killed Escherichia cells to serve as an alternative prey. f grazing pressure was initially not intense on a mixture of bacterial species, the species that survived protozoan feeding at greater densities were those that grew quickly before the onset of active predation. f members of several species were incubated individually at similar initial densities with activity grazing T. thermonhila, some species survived at co. 10 4 per ml, some at ca. 10 2 per ml, and others were eliminated. embers of the first two groups but not the third group were above to multiply in the medium in the absence of the protozoan, but the growth rates in the protozoan-free medium did not correlate with the number of survivors. t is concluded that the individual species surviving predation on a mixture of species is related to the capacity of the bacterium to grow, the hydrophobicity of its cell surface, and the population density of the species before the onset of intense grazing.