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Myxococcal predation on cyanobacterial populations: Nutrient effects 1
Author(s) -
Fraleigh Peter C.,
Burnham Jeffrey C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1988.33.3.0476
Subject(s) - cyanobacteria , nutrient , biology , lytic cycle , bacteria , myxobacteria , population , ecology , population density , predation , botany , virus , genetics , demography , virology , sociology
Myxococcus fulvus BGO2, a cyanobacteriolytic bacterium, reduced densities of the cyanobacteria Nostoc muscorum and Phormidium luridum in six inorganic media and in filtered water from Lake Erie when inoculated to give initial myxococcal densities of 5 × 10 6 cells ml −1 . When initial myxococcal densities were lower, the reduction in Nostoc density was delayed in a nutrient‐rich medium and did not occur in a nutrient‐poor medium. These laboratory results suggest that the absence of myxobacteria in cyanobacterial blooms and the absence of cyanobacterial population control by related lytic bacteria, found in natural blooms, may be due, in part, to insufficient inorganic nutrient fertility to support growth of lytic bacterial populations to densities necessary to cause significant cell lysis in host populations.