Kinetics of Growth of the Ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis on Escherichia coli

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Abstract
The growth of the ciliate T. pyriformis on non-growing E. coli was studied by following the time courses of population densities and protozoan mean cell volume in batch cultures. Viable, non-encysted protozoa always stopped feeding before the bacterial density was reduced to zero and non-feeding ciliates tended to swim faster than feeding ciliates. The number of bacteria and other particles of bacterial size consumed in the formation of 1 new ciliate, when averaged over the lag and reproductive phases of a culture, declined toward a limiting value of .apprx. 1.6 .times. 104 particles/ciliate as the initial density of such particles was increased. [These findings have relevance to the dynamics of protozoan populations in wastewater and other aquatic ecosystems.].

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