Modeling substrate‐bacteria‐grazer interactions coupled to substrate transport in groundwater

Abstract Models of microbial dynamics coupled to solute transport in aquifers typically require the introduction of a bacterial capacity term to prevent excessive microbial growth close to substrate‐injection boundaries. The factors controlling this carrying capacity, however, are not fully understood. In this study, we propose that grazers or bacteriophages may control the density of bacterial biomass in continuously fed porous media. We conceptualize the flow‐through porous medium as a series of retentostats, in which the dissolved substrate is advected with water flow whereas the biomasses of bacteria and grazers are considered essentially immobile. We first model a single retentostat with Monod kinetics of bacterial growth and a second‐order grazing law, which shows that the system oscillates but approaches a stable steady state with nonzero concentrations of substrate, bacteria, and grazers. The steady state concentration of the bacteria biomass is independent of the substrate concentration in the inflow. When coupling several retentostats in a series to mimic a groundwater column, the steady state bacteria concentrations thus remain at a constant level over a significant travel distance. The one‐dimensional reactive transport model also accounts for substrate dispersion and a random walk of grazers influenced by the bacteria concentration. These dispersive‐diffusive terms affect the oscillations until steady state is reached, but hardly the steady state value itself. We conclude that grazing, or infection by bacteriophages, is a possible explanation of the maximum biomass concentration frequently needed in bioreactive transport models. Its value depends on parameters related to the grazers or bacteriophages and is independent of bacterial growth parameters or substrate concentration, provided that there is enough substrate to sustain bacteria and grazers.