Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1995 May;61(5):1888–1896. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.5.1888-1896.1995

Survival of fecal microorganisms in marine and freshwater sediments.

C M Davies 1, J A Long 1, M Donald 1, N J Ashbolt 1
PMCID: PMC167451  PMID: 7646026

Abstract

The survival of culturable fecal coliforms, fecal streptococci, and Clostridium perfringens spores in freshwater and marine sediments from sites near sewage outfalls was studied. In laboratory studies, the inhibition of protozoan predators with cycloheximide allowed the fecal coliforms to grow in the sediment whereas the presence of predators resulted in a net die-off. C. perfringens spores did not appear either to be affected by predators or to die off throughout the duration of the experiments (28 days). Studies using in situ membrane diffusion chambers showed that, with the exception of C. perfringens, die-off of the test organisms to 10% of their initial numbers occurred in both marine and freshwater sediments within 85 days. The usual exponential decay model could not be applied to the sediment survival data, with the exception of the data for fecal streptococci. It was concluded that application of the usual decay model to the fecal coliform data was confounded by the complex relationship between growth and predation. The survival of seeded Escherichia coli in marine sediment was studied by using an enumeration method which detected viable but nonculturable bacteria. Throughout the duration of the experiment (68 days), the same proportion of E. coli organisms remained culturable, suggesting that sediment provides a favorable, nonstarvation environment for the bacteria.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (284.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bitton G., Henis Y., Lahav N. Effect of several clay minerals and humic acid on the survival of Klebsiella aerogenes exposed to ultraviolet irradiation. Appl Microbiol. 1972 May;23(5):870–874. doi: 10.1128/am.23.5.870-874.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Enzinger R. M., Cooper R. C. Role of bacteria and protozoa in the removal of Escherichia coli from estuarine waters. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1976 May;31(5):758–763. doi: 10.1128/aem.31.5.758-763.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gauthier M. J., Munro P. M., Breittmayer V. A. Influence of prior growth conditions on low nutrient response of Escherichia coli in seawater. Can J Microbiol. 1989 Mar;35(3):379–383. doi: 10.1139/m89-058. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gerba C. P., McLeod J. S. Effect of sediments on the survival of Escherichia coli in marine waters. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1976 Jul;32(1):114–120. doi: 10.1128/aem.32.1.114-120.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ghoul M., Bernard T., Cormier M. Evidence that Escherichia coli accumulates glycine betaine from marine sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1990 Feb;56(2):551–554. doi: 10.1128/aem.56.2.551-554.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hobbie J. E., Daley R. J., Jasper S. Use of nuclepore filters for counting bacteria by fluorescence microscopy. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1977 May;33(5):1225–1228. doi: 10.1128/aem.33.5.1225-1228.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hood M. A., Ness G. E. Survival of Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli in estuarine waters and sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 Mar;43(3):578–584. doi: 10.1128/aem.43.3.578-584.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. JONES G. E. EFFECT OF CHELATING AGENTS ON THE GROWTH OF ESCHERICHIA COLI IN SEAWATER. J Bacteriol. 1964 Mar;87:483–499. doi: 10.1128/jb.87.3.483-499.1964. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. LaLiberte P., Grimes D. J. Survival of Escherichia coli in lake bottom sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 Mar;43(3):623–628. doi: 10.1128/aem.43.3.623-628.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nichols P. D., Leeming R., Rayner M. S., Latham V., Ashbolt N. J., Turner C. Comparison of the abundance of the fecal sterol coprostanol and fecal bacterial groups in inner-shelf waters and sediments near Sydney, Australia. J Chromatogr. 1993 Jul 23;643(1-2):189–195. doi: 10.1016/0021-9673(93)80552-j. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Pérez-Rosas N., Hazen T. C. In situ survival of Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli in tropical coral reefs. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1988 Jan;54(1):1–9. doi: 10.1128/aem.54.1.1-9.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Quinn J. P. The modification and evaluation of some cytochemical techniques for the enumeration of metabolically active heterotrophic bacteria in the aquatic environment. J Appl Bacteriol. 1984 Aug;57(1):51–57. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1984.tb02355.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Roszak D. B., Grimes D. J., Colwell R. R. Viable but nonrecoverable stage of Salmonella enteritidis in aquatic systems. Can J Microbiol. 1984 Mar;30(3):334–338. doi: 10.1139/m84-049. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES