Rapid communication: notes on biofilm porosity

Abstract

Difficulties have been encountered attempting to use porosity as a parameter for quantifying biofilm heterogeneity. Some of those difficulties are technical in nature – measurement of biofilm porosity and interpretation of the results -- while other are more fundamental and result from using the well-known concept of rigid porous bed porosity to describe the porosity of a gelatinous biofilm matrix. Possible remedies are suggested and discussed.