Variability in Microbiological Data from a Stratified Eutrophic Lake

A survey of a stratified eutrophic lake was undertaken to determine the degree of variability in direct counts of bacteria, electron transport system activity, ATP concentration, chlorophyll a concentration and chemiluminescence, in the water column and the sediment. Heterogeneity in the horizontal and vertical dimension was studied in detail and the scale of variability was compared with within-sample and between-sample errors, and with seasonal fluctuations. Variability was greater in the sediment samples, and the coefficient of variation of samples taken at a single site was often as large as that between sites in a transect across the lake. Although this was not an exhaustive survey, the values provided should allow rough estimates to be made of the number of samples required to achieve a given level of precision in future investigations.