Introduction ? Bacterial Factoids

• Abundance ~ 109 ml -1

• 99.9 % are attached to sediment grains.

• Osmotrophs, i.e., “eat” and “breathe” via transfer of small molecules across cell membrane (< 500 kDa).

• Diffusion dominates foraging

• Simple morphologies: No problem “considering a spherical bacterium”

• Small (0.2 - 2 ?m in diameter)

• Grow quickly (20 min +)

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My research asks questions about the basic microbial ecology of marine sediments, such as what controls abundance and spatial distributions of bacteria on and among sediment grains.

In order that we are on the same time and space scales, here are some important considerations about bacteria in marine sediments.

Additionally, it’s important to note that bacteria can gain energy from molecules only once they are small enough to move across the cell membrane. Thus, extracellular enzymes are used to breakdown large molecules outside the cell.