Microscale Nutrient Patches in Planktonic Habitats Shown by Chemotactic Bacteria
Nicholas Blackburn,
*
Tom Fenchel,
Jim Mitchell
Are nutrients available to microbial communities in micropatches
long enough to influence growth and competition? And what are the
sources of such patches? To answer these questions, the swimming
behavior of chemotactic bacteria in seawater samples was examined.
Clusters of bacteria formed in conjunction with cell lysis and
excretion by protozoa. These point sources of nutrients spread into
spherical patches a few millimeters in diameter and sustained swarms of
bacteria for about 10 minutes. Within that time, a large proportion of
the nutrients was encountered by bacteria, chemotactic and
nonchemotactic alike. Chemotaxis is advantageous for bacteria using
patches over a certain size.
N. Blackburn and T. Fenchel, Marine Biological Laboratory,
University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, 3000 Helsingør,
Denmark. J. Mitchell, School of Biology, Flinders University,
Adelaide SA 5001, Australia.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
mblnb{at}mail.centrum.dk
