528 Marine Microbiology 



Regional Variability 



The three sides of the Nova Scotian coast that were sampled 

 have the following characteristics: 



1. Fundy: a region of very high tides and associated turbu- 

 lence that results in considerable scouring of the bottom and 

 makes it difficult to obtain cores. 



2. Halifax: this region borders immediately upon the Atlantic 

 Ocean and receives the drainage of an infertile granite-quartzite 

 area. 



3. Nortliumberland Strait: this region separates Nova Scotia 

 from Prince Edward Island and is adjacent to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. The water is warmed to the bottom in summer and 

 good farm land is found on either side of the Strait. 



4. A fourth set of sampling stations runs from the Labrador 

 Shelf, through tlie Strait of Belle Isle, and on to the Scotian Shelf. 



The number of trips and stations devoted to collecting sedi- 

 ment samples are shown in Table 1. It should be emphasized that 

 these samples - including the ones from coastal regions of high 

 tides - were from sediments that were never exposed even by 

 the lowest tidal level. Some liberty has been taken with the mean- 

 ing of the word "station" in Region 4, which was covered once 

 during a joint cruise of the vessels Vema and Sackville. On basis 

 of the results, it was decided to treat the visit as eight trips to one 

 region. Figure 2 shows the location of the regions and the mean 

 results arising from one summer's observations. 



It will be seen that the highest numbers were found in 

 Northumberland sediments. The Fundy and Halifax areas can 

 not be distinguished from one another on the basis of these counts, 

 but both are higher by a factor of ten than the counts from the 

 shelf. It would appear that various regions may be quantitatively 

 distinguishable from one another on the basis of their microflora, 

 although it remains to be seen whether there are seasonal effects 

 that will modify these findings. A notable feature of the results 

 is the extremely small number of bacteria in all the sediments 

 as revealed by the membrane filter technique. 



