Enumeration of Particle-Bound and Unattached Respiring Bacteria in the Salt Marsh Environment

Abstract

Proportions of respiring bacteria determined with a 2-( p -iodophenyl)-3-( p -nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl tetrazolium chloride dye-epifluorescent technique were significantly elevated in the 300-μm surface layer of a salt marsh estuary. Almost all the detectably respiring bacteria in the particle-laden surface layer and a significant proportion in subsurface waters were attached to particles.