Abstract
Nitrogen mineralization was studied in a simple grazing system in which the protozoan Acanthamoeba polyphaga was grown with the bacterium Pseudomonas paucimobilis (two soil organisms isolated from the shortgrass prairie in northern Colorado). In different experiments, either carbon or nitrogen was adjusted to be in limiting amounts. When carbon was limiting, grazers were almost entirely responsible for nitrogen mineralization, with bacteria themselves contributing little. When nitrogen was limiting, nitrogen mineralization by grazers permitted continued growth by the grazed bacteria and a greater bacterial biomass production. The increased growth of the grazed bacteria did not result in an increased total amount of carbon used, but the grazed bacteria used carbon more efficiently than the ungrazed bacteria.