Effect of temperature and salinity on the microbial population in the Arabian Sea coastal waters at Mangalore (India)

Abstract

The influence of temperature and salinity on the microbial population was studied. In the open waters, the bacterial population of surface waters increased with increase in temperature. Sometimes at maximum temperature a decrease was noticed with an increase in the population density of bottom layers. Such pattern is not observed in the estuarine waters. On the other hand, fluctuations of bacterial population is more when compared to open waters and this might be due to fluctuations in estuarine waters which is attributed to the tidal effect