Growth responses and biovolume changes for four facultatively psychrophilic bacterial isolates from Conception Bay, Newfoundland, and the Arctic Ocean were examined at temperatures from-1.5 to 35°C, with substrate concentrations of 0.15, 1.5, and 1,500 mg of proteose peptone-yeast extract per liter. For two cultures, growth in 0.1, 1.0, and 1,000 mg of proline per liter was also examined. At 10 to 15°C and above, growth rates showed no marked effect of substrate concentration, while at-1.5 and 0°C, there was an increasing requirement for organic nutrients, with generation times in low-nutrient media that were two to three times longer than in high-nutrient media. Biovolume showed a clear dependence on substrate concentration and quality; the largest cells were in the highest-nutrient media. Biovolume was also affected by temperature; the largest cells were found at the lowest temperatures. These data have implications for both food web structure and carbon flow in cold waters and-for the effects of global climate change, since the change in growth rate is most dramatic at the lowest temperatures.