Before revision:  Adhesion forces arise via the binding ligands as well as the attractive / repulsive surface potential in an ionic medium via the DLVO theory. The reversible binding kinetics are assumed to follow the standard model for linear springs \mbox{%DIFAUXCMD Dembo1988 that large floc aggregates are possible with more tensile ligands due to efficient inter-floc collisions ( measured via the collision factor).
After revision:  Adhesion forces arise via the binding ligands as well as the attractive / repulsive surface potential in an ionic medium effects the eventual size of these particle aggregates (flocs). For experimentally measurable parameters in microbial population studies, our results suggests that large floc aggregates are possible with more tensile ligands due to efficient inter-floc collisions ( measured via the collision factor).