Top-down structuring of freshwater bacterial communities by mixotrophic flagellates.

ABSTRACT: Mixotrophic and heterotrophic protists hold a key position in aquatic microbial food webs. Whereas they can account for the bulk of bacterivory in pelagic systems, the potential structuring effect of these consumers on bacterial communities is far from clear. We conducted short-term grazing experiments to test for the overall impact on bacterial community structure and possible prey preferences of phagotrophic protists. The protist taxa selected for this study include three mixotrophic flagellates, comprising two obligate- and one facultative mixotroph, and one phagoheterotrophic flagellate lacking phototrophic capacity. Bacterioplankton from seven different lakes were enriched and used to represent semi-natural prey communities. Our study demonstrated protist strain specific impacts on ba

SUBMITTER: Ivankovic M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10475056 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature