Frequency of dividing cells as an estimator of bacterial productivity.

It has recently been proposed that the frequency of dividing bacterial cells (FDC) can be used to predict growth rates of natural aquatic bacterial assemblages. We have examined the relationship between FDC and growth rate in bacteria from southern-temperate, coastal marine waters by using incubation under conditions of manipulated nutrient availability and exclusion of bacterivores. The regression of the natural logarithm of bacterial instantaneous growth rate (mu) on FDC resulted in a better fit than regression of untransformed mu on FDC. The regression equation was ln mu = 0.299FDC - 4.961. The coefficient of variation for predicted ln mu at mean FDC was 7%. The range of FDC-estimated bacterial instantaneous generation times for coastal Georgia waters was 12 to 68 h, and range of calculated bacterial production rates was 0.6 to 17.6 mg of C.m. h. Unresolved problems of and suggested improvements on the FDC method of predicting growth rate are discussed.