Microbial biomass on particulate organic matter in seawater of the euphotic zone.

Microbial biomass on suspended organic matter in seawater of the euphotic zone of Saanich Inlet was investigated. The viable microorganisms were measured by the glucose-uptake method. Microbial carbon on particulate organic matter in seawater was determined to be, on the average, 9.9 mug of C/liter, and there was a regression relationship as y = 0.0062 x - 1.79 with an unbiased variance V(yx) = 0.38, where x = particulate organic carbon in seawater (micrograms of C/liter) and y = logarithm of microbial carbon (micrograms of C/liter).