New lineage of scuticociliates dominates the ciliate community and bacterivory in hypolimnetic waters of a freshwater reservoir.

ABSTRACT: Deep, cold, and dark hypolimnia represent the largest volume of water in freshwater lakes with limited occurrences of phototrophs. However, the presence of prokaryotes supports populations of bacterivorous ciliates and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF). Nevertheless, protistan bacterivory rates and the major hypolimnetic ciliate bacterivores are poorly documented. We conducted a high frequency sampling (three-times a week) in the oxic hypolimnion of a stratified mesoeutrophic reservoir during summer, characterized by stable physicochemical conditions and low water temperature. Using fluorescently labeled bacteria we estimated that ciliates and HNF contributed, on average, 30% and 70% to aggregated protistan bacterivory, respectively, and collectively removed about two thirds of daily hyp

SUBMITTER: Simek K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12366787 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature