UPTAKE OF CESIUM137 BY CELLS AND DETRITUS OF EUGLENA AND CHLORELLA

Abstract

Standard “Euglena” medium putrefied by three common species of bacteria and filtered was found to support unusually heavy blooms of Euglena and Chlorella. Mass culturing demonstrated that uptake of Cs137 by Euglena and Chlorella is linear with concentrations at all levels that might be encountered in natural aquatic habitats. The rate of uptake of cesium during population growth is greatest in cells of Euglena during the stationary period following the exponential growth phase. At this stage the cesium taken in is mostly unbound Following this it is released so that in old cells and detritus it is largely bound cesium. Cesium and potassium behave independently in killed cells of Chlorella. Alkali ions, known to be chemically similar, are selected or rejected discriminately by these algae. The presence of antibiotics significantly depresses the uptake of cesium by Chlorella and Euglena. © 1960, by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc.