Use of radiolabeled tracers in dilution grazing experiments to estimate bacterial growth and loss rates.

Dilution grazing experiments were conducted to determine growth and loss rates of glucose-metabolizing and total bacteria. Bacterial growth rates were low and losses to grazers negligible in samples collected from the Celtic Sea in June 1986. Growth and loss rates of glucose-metabolizing bacteria were higher than growth and loss rates of total bacteria in a sample collected from the North Sea in October 1986.