What are the carbon requirements of bacteria ?

JP Torréton, IRD

It is not possible to directly assess what bacteria live on because they use such a wide range of different molecules.

The heterotrophic bacterial activity was determined experimentally by assessing the decrease in the dissolved organic carbon levels due to the bacterial activity occurring under natural bacterial batch culture conditions with no predators present (the bacteria were collected using a filtration procedure). These experiments showed very low growth rates in several of the lagoons (5 to 21% on average, based on the maximum and minimum carbon values per bacterium published in the literature). These growth rates of the biomass are in agreement with the latest data available on oligotrophic environments (del Giorgio & Cole 1998, Carlson et al. 1999). These data suggest that the biomass production would have to be 5 to 20 pour times greater to meet the total carbon requirements of the  planktonic bacteria. 

These organisms have turned out to be responsible for the largest fluxes of matter occurring among the plankton.

Diagram showing the fate  of the carbon supplies	Dissolved organic carbon consumption and the corresponding bacterial biomass production determined in an in vitro lagoon water experiment.

This page was based on :

Torréton J-P, J Pagès, P Dufour, G Cauwet (1997a) Bacterioplankton carbon growth yield and DOC turnover in some coral reef lagoons. Proc. 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, 1 :947-952, HA Lessios ed., Allen Press New York.

Torréton JP (1999) Biomass, production and heterotrophic activity of bacterioplankton in the Great Astrolabe Reef Lagoon (Fiji). Coral Reefs 18: 43-53

References :

Carlson CA, Bates NR, Ducklow HW, Hansell DA (1999) Estimation of bacterial respiration and growth efficiency in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 19:229-244

Del Giorgio P, Cole JJ (1998) Bacterial growth efficiency in natural aquatic systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 29:503-541