Organisms Commons^™

It is widely believed that Escherichia coli does not survive for extended periods outside the intestines of warm-blooded animals, but recent studies show that E. coli strains can maintain populations in soil and water without any known fecal contamination. The objective of this study was to determine whether niche partitioning of E. coli occurs between cattle and their pasture. We sought to determine whether E. coli from bovine feces differed phenotypically and genotypically from isolates maintaining a population in pasture soil over winter.  Soil, bovine feces, and run-off samples were collected before and after introduction of cattle to the pasture. …