A method is presented for determining both the average turnover rate and the standard deviation of the average turnover rate of the adenine nucleotide (AN) pool within a population of microorganisms. The method requires the calculation of the initial slope and curvature of a plot of AN specific activity versus time following the introduction of [ 3 H]adenine. An analysis of noise-corrupted data indicated that the method is capable of detecting a lack of uniformity in the turnover rate when the coefficient of variation of the turnover rate exceeds 39%. An analysis of field data revealed a significant lack of uniformity in the turnover rates of microbial communities in a marine sediment sample and freshwater pond but no significant nonuniformity in the turnover rates of microbial communities in a seawater sample and in a second freshwater pond. Although the method has been applied only to the analysis of AN turnover rates, it is applicable to any intracellular pool for which a suitable radioactive precursor exists.
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