Protozoan feeding and bacterial wall growth

Abstract

Monod's model is often assumed to describe the kinetics of feeding of a protozoan population on a bacterial population in a chemostat. An earlier study (J. L. Jost et al., J. Bacteriol, 113, 84 (1973)) of the feeding of Tetrahymena pyriformis on either Escherichia coli or Azotobacter vinelandii found that this model correctly predicted the occurrence of sustained oscillations of population densities but made predictions of minimum bacterial population densities that were much smaller than those observed. The earlier study removed the discrepancy between the model and data by replacing Monod's model with a different model. It is shown in the present study that the discrepancy can be explained equally as well if Monod's model for the feeding relation is retained and if, in addition, growth of bacteria on the chemostat walls is allowed for in the model equations.