Abstract
THERE have been few studies on the microbial flora of marine and freshwater sands. Early work1 was concerned with the estimation of bacterial numbers in the same way as had been the practice for mud sediments, that is, numbers were quoted as bacteria/g of wet sand. Pearse, Humm and Wharton2 appear to have been the first investigators to consider bacteria in detail on the surfaces of marine sand grains. We3 extended this work and gave estimates of total and viable numbers of bacteria per unit surface area of sand grain surface from various intertidal sources. Round4 reported diatoms on the surface of freshwater sands, and suggested that the latter is a specialized habitat. The present report extends our concept of the sand grain as a habitat for micro-organisms by (1) recording the distribution of different groups of micro-organisms on the surfaces of sand grains, (2) showing how this varies geographically and at different tidal levels and water depths, and (3) comparing marine and freshwater sands.
Published Version
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