Growth of marine bacteria and ammonium regeneration from substrates in different C: N ratios

Natural assemblages of marine bacteria were chosen in a batch culture experiments. The impact of varying nitrogen substrate concentrations and the substrate C:N ratios (C:N_S) on the bacterial C:N ratio (C:N_B), the bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) and ammonium regeneration was mainly examined. The C:N_S ratios varied from 5:1 (carbon limitation) to 40:1 (nitrogen limitation) with varying combinations of glucose and NO₃^-. The C:N_B ratio had positive relationship with the C:N_S ratio (r=0.93, n=8), whose value was 3.77 when the C:N_S ratio was 5:1 but increased to 6.47 when the C:NS ratio was 40:1. These results indicate that the C:N_B ratio is a potential diagnostic tool for determining the bacterial growth in natural waters controlled by either, carbon or nitrogen. BGE decreased with the declining nitrate concentration and negatively related to C:N_s (r=-0.51, n=8). The average value of BGE was 0.20. This value was a little lower than other reports, which could be induced by the nitrogen source used in our experiments. Finally, regeneration time of ammonium delayed with the increasing C:N_S ratio, which indicates that there were different metabolism mechanisms when bacterial growth was limited by carbon source and nitrogen source.

Growth of marine bacteria and ammonium regeneration from substrates in different C: N ratios

Natural assemblages of marine bacteria were chosen in a batch culture experiments. The impact of varying nitrogen substrate concentrations and the substrate C:N ratios (C:NS) on the bacterial C:N ratio (C:NB), the bacterial growth effciency (BGE) and ammonium regeneration was mainly examined. The C:NS ratios varied from 5:1 (carbon limitation) to 40:1 (nitrogen limitation) with varying combinations of glucose and NO3- . The C:NB ratio had positive relationship with the C:NS ratio (r=0.93, n=8), whose value ...