1986; Albright et al., 1987; Sherr and Sherr,. 1987; B. Sherr ...... Can. J. Zool. 26:1822-1827. .... Heinle, D.R., R. P. Harris, J. F. Ustach, and D. A. Flemer. (1977).
Reviews in Aquatic Sciences, 6(2):139-181 (1992)
Ecology of Planktonic Ciliates in Marine Food Webs Richard W. Pierce* and Jefferson T. Turner** Biology Department, and Center for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA 02747
* Present address: Graduate School of Oceanography, ** To whom all correspondence should be addressed.
University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882.
ABSTRACT: Ciliates are abundant and ubiquitous components of the marine plankton. Marine planktonic ciliates include hundreds of species of loricate (shell-bearing) members of the suborder Tintinnina, and numerous aloricate (naked) genera of several other suborders. The importance of ciliates in energy flow through pelagic marine ecosystems is becoming increasingly recognized. Ciliates are important trophic links in that they are consumers of planktonic bacteria, pico- and nanoplanktonic autotrophs, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and heterotrophic protists, and they are eaten by consumers such as zooplankton and planktivorous fish. Herein we review marine planktonic ciliate classification, seasonality, and population dynamics and discuss the trophic roles of ciliates as consumers, as prey, and as facultative autotrophs. KEY WORDS: protozoa, ciliate, plankton, microbial loop, food webs.
I. INTRODUCTION Recently, it has been recognized that microbial components of aquatic food webs are much more important than previously thought. The realization that phytoplankton biomass and productivity are dominated by nanoplankton (
