Date of Award

Fall 1988

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biological Sciences

Program/Concentration

Biology

Committee Director

Fred L. Singleton

Committee Member

Lloyd Wolfinbarger, Jr.

Committee Member

Paul W. Kirk

Committee Member

Andrew Gordon

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.B46 H3765

Abstract

Interactions between populations inhabiting an ecosys­tem are responsible, in large part, for determining which species coexist in that ecosystem. In this study, interac­tions between selected Vibrio species, V. alginolyticus and V. anguillarum, and marine heterotrophic, chromogenic bac­teria in aquatic microcosms were investigated. The ultimate goal of this project was to evaluate the feasibility of ex­ ploiting competitive interactions as a means to biologically control growth of the pathogenic marine bacteria, V. alginolyticus and V. anguillarum. In the majority of ex­periments (14/16), if chromogenic species were allowed to develop stable populations before a Vibrio spp. was intro­duced into a microcosm, the population size of the Vibrio spp. was less than that attained in control (axenic) microcosms. Three chromogenic bacteria from different geographic locations were studied in detail to evaluate their influence on growth of V. anguillarum and V. alqinolyticus. In studies on V. anguillarum, the percentage reductions increased as the chromogenic populations in­ creased. However, the reduction of V. alqinolyticus populations was independent of the population size of the chromogenic strains. In the presence of chromogenic strain AB27, all Vibrio populations were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the axenic controls. The biochemical basis for reduction of Vibrio populations in the presence of chromogenic strains was hypothesized to be either competition for limiting nutrients, production of inhibitory ex­tracellular substances, or both.

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DOI

10.25777/vcaw-8p64

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