Bacterial Growth Efficiency, Respiration and Secondary Production and in the Cross River Estuary, Nigeria and the Near Coast

Bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) can be a major factor in estimation of energy transfer within the food web, but its controlling factors are poorly understood. It also regulates measurements of bacterial production and respiration [BGE = BP/ (BP + BR)]. BGE values in natural bacterial assemblage were determined over 12 months in a tropical estuary of Cross River and adjacent Gulf of Guinea. BGE values ranged from 20.80 % to 52.40 % with a mean value of 36.16 % and correlated positively with bacterial production (BP) (r2 = 0.676, pgreater than0.001). Much of the BGE variation could be attributed to BP because BGE correlated poorly with BR (r2 = 0.322, p