Eco-physiology of prey generalist mixoplanktonic ciliates
PhD thesis: Ciliates have a pivotal role in the ecology of marine systems, as they are an important trophic link between the microbial loop and the metazoan grazers. Many planktonic ciliates retain functional chloroplasts from the photosyntetic prey that they ingest. This enables them to photosynthe...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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Zenodo
2021
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5840080 https://zenodo.org/record/5840080 |
| Summary: | PhD thesis: Ciliates have a pivotal role in the ecology of marine systems, as they are an important trophic link between the microbial loop and the metazoan grazers. Many planktonic ciliates retain functional chloroplasts from the photosyntetic prey that they ingest. This enables them to photosynthesize and thereby being mixotrophs. While some species express a selective behaviour towards specific prey types from which they acquire chloroplasts, the majority of species among the oligotrich ciliates can acquire chloroplasts from different algal types and are defined as prey generalists. The focus on this thesis was on the ecology and physiology of these organisms based on laboratory experiments on cultures of Strombidium spp. In addition to this, a field survey was carried out on four Greenlandic fjords that receives high amount of glacier fluor to assess the role of mixotrophs in these systems. : This thesis should only be available to EC staff |
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