Following their addition to lake water, the populations of Escherichia coli and of antibiotic-resistant strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Micrococcus flavus, Rhizobium meliloti, and Klebsiella pneumoniae declined rapidly, as counted on media containing antibacterial compounds. The estimates of population sizes were occasionally higher if procedures were used permitting possible resuscitation of injured cells, but no resuscitation procedure gave consistently higher estimates of populations of surviving cells than when the selective media were used alone. The patterns of survival of the test bacteria in lake water amended with eucaryotic inhibitors was essentially the same whether a resuscitation procedure was used or not, and the patterns of survival in sterile lake water or buffer were the same whether counts were made on selective media or media without antibacterial agents.

"Reprint article published in Applied Environmental Microbiology, volume 54, pp. 2859-2861, November 1988." Caption title. "EPA/600/J-88/355." Microfiche.