The loch eil project: Cellulose-degrading bacteria in the sediments of Loch Eil and the Lynn of Lorne

• Published in: Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 267 - 278
• Main Authors: Vance, I., Stanley, S.O., Brown, C.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.1981
• Subjects: Marine
• ISSN: 0022-0981; 1879-1697
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-0981(81)90194-5

Cellulose-degrading bacteria were enumerated in the sediments of Loch Eil and the Lynn of Lorne, Scotland, using the most probable number technique. Highest population densities of aerobic and anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria were found in the deep basin of Loch Eil. In the sampling site closest to the effluent outfall from a pulp and paper mill the fluctuations in bacterial population density correlated with the discharge of suspended solids. Within the sediments, the population density of cellulolytic bacteria decreased with depth but cellulolytic activity appeared to be concentrated in the upper 10 mm. Cellulolytic bacteria isolated from the sediments were shown to utilize pulp fibre (a constituent of the mill effluent) as the sole carbon source and to produce extracellular β-l,4-glucanase. The interstitial water from sediments in Loch Eil also contained low levels of extracellular β-1,4-glucanase activity but the ecological significance of this is uncertain.