Mortality of fecal bacteria in seawater.

We propose a method for determining the mortality rate for allochthonous bacteria released in aquatic environments without interference due to the loss of culturability in specific culture media. This method consists of following the disappearance of radioactivity from the trichloroacetic acid-insoluble fraction in water samples to which [3H]thymidine-prelabeled allochthonous bacteria have been added. In coastal seawater, we found that the actual rate of disappearance of fecal bacteria was 1 order of magnitude lower than the rate of loss of culturability on specific media. Minor adaptation of the procedure may facilitate assessment of the effect of protozoan grazing and bacteriophage lysis on the overall bacterial mortality rate.