EN
The effect of different concentrations of mercury on the number and respiratory activity of neustonic and planktonic bacteria derived from estuarine Lake Gardno (Baltic Coast, Poland) was studied. The laboratory experiments demonstrated that mercuric ions (Hg²⁺) exhibited toxic effects on abundance and oxygen uptake of neustonic and planktonic bacteria. Bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton showed different responses to the mercuric ions. The neustonic bacteria showed higher levels of tolerance to various concentrations of Hg (10–15 mg dm⁻³) in the culture medium than the planktonic ones (<10 mg dm⁻³). It was found out that the bacteria isolated from freshwater zone of Lake Gardno were more tolerant to the increasing concentration of mercury ions (10–20 mg dm⁻³) than bacteria isolated from the seawater and mixed zones of lakes. Non-pigmented bacteria from all layers and zones were more torelant to the higher Hg²⁺ concentrations than pigmented ones. High concentrations (above 8 µg cm⁻³) of mercury chloride in the respiratory substrate blocked completely oxygen uptake by neustonic and planktonic bacteria.