Large differences in the fraction of active bacteria in plankton, sediments, and biofilm

Generally, only a small fraction of free-living pelagic bacteria are metabolically active, while particle-associated bacteria usually exhibit a larger proportion of active bacteria. Most previous studies on the active fraction of bacteria focus on planktonic communities, and there are only a few studies on sediment and epiphytic biofilm bacteria. We compared the active fraction of the total number of bacteria in three different habitats of the littoral zone of Lake Erken, Sweden, including the sediments, the epiphytic biofilm on the submerged macrophyte Ranunculus circinatus, and the water column. Active bacteria were detected as those with an active electron transport system, identified by the capacity to reduce the tetrazolium salt CTC (5-cyano-2,3-ditolyltetrazolium chloride) into its fluorescent, water insoluble state. There were large differences between habitats. The active fraction of the total number of bacteria detected by fluorescence microscopy (annual mean +/- SD) in the sediments was 46 +/- 10%, on R. circinatus 37 +/- 18%, and in the water column 4 +/- 4%. The abundance of CTC-reducing cells was correlated with total bacterial abundance, and the fraction of CTC-reducing bacteria generally increased with total bacterial abundance, for all the habitats. Consequently, the difference in the fraction of CTC-reducing bacteria between the habitats could be attributed to different densities of bacteria, with a larger proportion of active bacteria at higher bacterial densities.