Date of Award

Summer 1952

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Dr. Robert F. Smart

Abstract

Most natural bodies of water which have been investigated have been shown to contain bacteria. Exceptions apparently occur where we find those waters which, due to their chemical constitution and physical makeup, are inimical even to the growth of bacteria .

Since bacteria are virtually ubiquitous in waters, it would necessarily follow that biologists interested in this aspect of biology would have intensively studied bacteria and the part they play in the biology of water. Quite the contrary; instead of the study continuing along lines laid down by early scholars it has shifted to a study of bacteria which were not indigenous to water. Emphasis has been placed on the public health aspects of water and studies of pathogenic organisms, and manurial pollution have supplanted investigations largely taxonomic.

Previous research has been concerned in some instances with an enumeration and identification of bacterial forms round in particular bodies or water. At other times work has dealt with environmental factors or chemical alterations affecting the numbers of bacteria. The purpose of the present investigation is a survey of environmental factors affecting the numbers of bacteria and a study of the species of bacteria found in a particular body of water.

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