Effects of Substrate Biodegradability on the Mass and Activity of the Associated Estuarine Microbiota †

Ronald J. Bobbie, Susan J. Morrison, David C. White
1978 Applied and Environmental Microbiology  
Multiple biochemical assays of microbial mass and activities were applied to the estuarine detrital microbiota colonizing morphologically similar polyvinyl chloride needles and needles from slash pine (Pinus elliottii). Biodegradable pine needles consistently showed 2to 10-fold higher values of extractable adenosine 5'-triphosphate, rates of oxygen utilization, activities of alkaline phosphatase and phosphodiesterase, and the mucopeptide cell wall component muramic acid than did the polyvinyl
more » ... loride needles, during a 14-week incubation in a semitropical estuary. The higher activities by the microbiota of the biodegradable substrate correlated with estimates of the microbial density from scanning electron microscopy. The microbial community associated with the nondegradable substrate showed minimal activity of fl-D-galactosidase, fl-D-glucosidase, perature with aeration to maintain an oxygen tension of 6 to 7 mg/liter. The experiments were begun im-179 on May 4, 2020 by guest
doi:10.1128/aem.35.1.179-184.1978 fatcat:k7nvzfge3zafnjsuwjaim3enn4