A substrate-induced growth-response method for estimating the biomass of microbial functional groups in soil and aquatic systems
1992
Schmidt, S.K.
A substrate-induced growth-response (SIGR) method is presented for estimating the biomass or density of microorganisms capable of carrying out specific metabolic functions in natural and human-made systems. The biomass of active organisms can be estimated based on the concentration of substrate needed to induce the growth of the standing population. Curves of substrate mineralization or depletion are used as indirect indicators of growth. Estimates of population size are obtained by using non-linear regression techniques to fit simple models, that contain biologically relevant parameters, to the substrate mineralization curves. In the present study, the SIGR method was used to estimate the numbers of organisms capable of mineralizing 2,4-dinitrophenol in soil and in a model waste-treatment system. The SIGR approach was tested by comparison of model estimates to estimates for the same parameters obtained by independent means.
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