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Invariant proportionality between rate of anaplerotic inorganic carbon uptake and rate of heterotrophic bacterial carbon increase is assumed in the 'Romanenko technique' Measurements of short-term (min) HCO, uptake rates by Pseudornonas perfectornarinus, sampled from steady-state continuous cultures, indicate that this assumption is not valid. The use of short incubations in characterizing in situ rates was necessary because of non-linearity in the time-varying cellular radioactivity curves. Cells removed from cultures having a low dilution rate accumulated 14C at progressively diminishing rates while those from cultures having a high dilution rate progressed at increasing rates. Such time-varying radioactivity curves are qualitatively consistent with compartmental analyses of systems in which, respectively, the pool of traced substances remains constant in size and expands. Sequential measurements of culture turbidity in the incubation vessel were consistent with these interpretations: there was no change in turbidity for a low dilution rate culture, whereas turbidity increased for a high dilution rate culture. It is suggested that natural plankton samples may likewise exhibit different growth responses when removed from the environment and enclosed in bottles. Time-varying radioactivity curves may prove useful in diagnosing growth.
WKW Li (Fri,) studied this question.