Temporal variation in the specific growth rate of bacterioplankton in the River Cauvery and its four down stream tributaries in Karnataka State, India.

The temporal variation in the Specific Growth Rate (SGR) of natural population of heterotrophic bacterioplankton of the river Cauvery and its four down stream tributaries in Karnataka State was monitored over a period of two years from February 2000 to January 2002. The SGR was calculated by taking into account only the abundance of bacterioplankton at the beginning (0 h) and at the end (48 h) incubation period, at room or river temperature. The mean SGR was less and significantly different in the surface waters of river Kapila, Shimsha, Suvarnavathy and Arkavathy.