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The heterotrophic bacterial populations in two contrasting rivers have been examined over a period of 1 year. The populations were analyzed (i) as total heterotrophic counts, (ii) as species numbers, using numerical taxonomy, (iii) by diversity indices, and (iv) by factor analysis. Isolates were obtained by plating directly from water samples and by chemostat enrichment. Four factors emerged which profiled the bacterial community and were common to both rivers. They were, in order of decreasing importance, fermentative metabolism, inorganic nitrogen metabolism, fluorescence-oxidative metabolism, and lack of starch hydrolysis. Several factors produced significant correlations with a range of physicochemical parameters, which were also measured. The correlations suggested an intricate algal-bacterial interaction. The oxidative metabolism factor correlated with rainfall in one river, suggesting that the oxidative bacteria may be washed in from the surrounding land. In the other river, the oxidative-fermentative factor correlated negatively with sunshine. Factor analysis was the most effective method for revealing correlations between bacterial characteristics and the environmental parameters; however, the use of a variety of methods provided more insight into the ecological aspects.

Forty-eight continuous culture enrichments were performed on summer and winter water samples from two contrasting rivers. The cell output from each chemostat was dependent on the temperature and nitrogen concentration of each enrichment. The diversity of the populations from the continuous cultures, as assessed by species diversity analysis, was always greater than populations obtained on agar plates. However, the species isolated exclusively by continuous culture in these experiments were not unique to the chemostat. All of these species had been isolated at some time on plates directly. High nitrogen concentrations were found to decrease diversity. Populations sampled during the winter were influenced primarily by the concentration of nitrogen. Summer isolates were affected mainly by the temperature of the culture medium. The nutritional versatility of the population was not affected by enrichment of the continuous culture.