Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay
Epibiotic relationships are a widespread phenomenon in marine, estuarine and freshwater environments, and include diverse epibiont organisms such as bacteria, protists, rotifers, and barnacles. Despite its wide occurrence, epibiosis is still poorly known regarding its consequences, advantages, and d...
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ftunivmaryland:oai:drum.lib.umd.edu:1903/192 2023-05-15T18:49:42+02:00 Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay Utz, Laura Roberta Pinto Small, Eugene B. Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences 2004-02-10 2450772 bytes application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1903/192 en_US eng Digital Repository at the University of Maryland University of Maryland (College Park, Md.) http://hdl.handle.net/1903/192 Biology Ecology Zoology Oceanography Dissertation 2004 ftunivmaryland 2022-11-11T11:11:08Z Epibiotic relationships are a widespread phenomenon in marine, estuarine and freshwater environments, and include diverse epibiont organisms such as bacteria, protists, rotifers, and barnacles. Despite its wide occurrence, epibiosis is still poorly known regarding its consequences, advantages, and disadvantages for host and epibiont. Most studies performed about epibiotic communities have focused on the epibionts' effects on host fitness, with few studies emphasizing on the epibiont itself. The present work investigates species composition, spatial and temporal fluctuations, and aspects of the life cycle and attachment preferences of Peritrich epibionts on calanoid copepods in Chesapeake Bay, USA. Two species of Peritrich ciliates (Zoothamnium intermedium Precht, 1935, and Epistylis sp.) were identified to live as epibionts on the two most abundant copepod species (Acartia tonsa and Eurytemora affinis) during spring and summer months in Chesapeake Bay. Infestation prevalence was not significantly correlated with environmental variables or phytoplankton abundance, but displayed a trend following host abundance. Investigation of the life cycle of Z. intermedium suggested that it is an obligate epibiont, being unable to attach to non-living substrates in the laboratory or in the field. Formation of free-swimming stages (telotrochs) occurs as a result of binary fission, as observed for other peritrichs, and is also triggered by death or molt of the crustacean host. Attachment success of dispersal stages decreased as telotroch age increased, suggesting that colonization rates in nature may be strongly dependent on intense production of telotrochs by the epibiont ciliates. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that Z. intermedium colonizes equally adult and copepodite stages of A. tonsa and E. affinis. The epibiont is also able to colonize barnacle nauplii and a harpacticoid copepod, when these were the only living host available, but fails to colonize non-crustacean hosts, such as the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus or ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Copepods Rotifer University of Maryland: Digital Repository (DRUM) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Maryland: Digital Repository (DRUM) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmaryland |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Ecology Zoology Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Biology Ecology Zoology Oceanography Utz, Laura Roberta Pinto Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
topic_facet |
Biology Ecology Zoology Oceanography |
description |
Epibiotic relationships are a widespread phenomenon in marine, estuarine and freshwater environments, and include diverse epibiont organisms such as bacteria, protists, rotifers, and barnacles. Despite its wide occurrence, epibiosis is still poorly known regarding its consequences, advantages, and disadvantages for host and epibiont. Most studies performed about epibiotic communities have focused on the epibionts' effects on host fitness, with few studies emphasizing on the epibiont itself. The present work investigates species composition, spatial and temporal fluctuations, and aspects of the life cycle and attachment preferences of Peritrich epibionts on calanoid copepods in Chesapeake Bay, USA. Two species of Peritrich ciliates (Zoothamnium intermedium Precht, 1935, and Epistylis sp.) were identified to live as epibionts on the two most abundant copepod species (Acartia tonsa and Eurytemora affinis) during spring and summer months in Chesapeake Bay. Infestation prevalence was not significantly correlated with environmental variables or phytoplankton abundance, but displayed a trend following host abundance. Investigation of the life cycle of Z. intermedium suggested that it is an obligate epibiont, being unable to attach to non-living substrates in the laboratory or in the field. Formation of free-swimming stages (telotrochs) occurs as a result of binary fission, as observed for other peritrichs, and is also triggered by death or molt of the crustacean host. Attachment success of dispersal stages decreased as telotroch age increased, suggesting that colonization rates in nature may be strongly dependent on intense production of telotrochs by the epibiont ciliates. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that Z. intermedium colonizes equally adult and copepodite stages of A. tonsa and E. affinis. The epibiont is also able to colonize barnacle nauplii and a harpacticoid copepod, when these were the only living host available, but fails to colonize non-crustacean hosts, such as the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus or ... |
author2 |
Small, Eugene B. Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Utz, Laura Roberta Pinto |
author_facet |
Utz, Laura Roberta Pinto |
author_sort |
Utz, Laura Roberta Pinto |
title |
Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
title_short |
Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
title_full |
Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
title_fullStr |
Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the Chesapeake Bay |
title_sort |
identification, life history, and ecology of peritrich ciliates as epibionts on calanoid copepods in the chesapeake bay |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1903/192 |
genre |
Copepods Rotifer |
genre_facet |
Copepods Rotifer |
op_relation |
Digital Repository at the University of Maryland University of Maryland (College Park, Md.) http://hdl.handle.net/1903/192 |
_version_ |
1766243295341576192 |