ADHESION OF BACTERIA AND DIATOMS TO THE EXOSKELETON OF THE HARPACTICOID COPEPOD <em>Tigriopus fulvus</em> IN CULTURE: ELECTRON AND EPIFLUORESCENT MICROSCOPE STUDY

Abstract

In marine environments microrganisms can survive as free forms or bound to animate and inanimate surfaces (1,2). The microbial colonization of an organic substratum is a very complex phenomenon; the initial event in biofilm formation is the collision (random collision or chemotaxis) between microrganisms and surface. This is followed by the adhesion of picoplankton to the organic substratum (3). [...]