A model of substrate utilization by bacterial films.
vironmental conditions has been con ducted to determine the kinetics of substrate utilization by dispersed bacteria. Mixing in natural environments, such as lakes, ponds, soils, seawater, and sediments, is rarely adequate to maintain complete dis persion, however; as a result, bacterial growth generally occurs on available sur faces. Bacteria as charged micron-sized particles become adsorbed and attached at solid-liquid interfaces, and, after multiply ing over several generations, a biofilm of closely packed bacteria is formed.