Table 1.

Microbial numbers in sea water, as determined by quantitative PCR, using Escherichia coli, Halobacterium salinarum and Aspergillus versicolor as external standards.

	Bacteria, cfu/mL		Archaeons, cells/mL		Fungi, spores/mL
	Non-Chlorinated	Chlorinated	Non-Chlorinated	Chlorinated	Non-Chlorinated	Chlorinated
beginning	7.7 × 106	1.8 × 103	3.2 × 103	<1	2300	3
1 month	8.3 × 106	5.6 × 106	8.8 × 103	6.8 × 103	500	380
3 months	5.8 × 106	8.8 × 106	1.3 × 104	6.8 × 103	360	710