Functional Ecology of Two Contrasting Freshwater Ciliated Protists in Relation to Temperature.

ABSTRACT: We conducted microcosm experiments with two contrasting freshwater ciliates on functional traits (FTs) related to their growth rate (numerical response, NR) and ingestion rate (functional response, FR) over a range of ecologically relevant temperatures. Histiobalantium bodamicum and Vorticella natans are common planktonic ciliates but their abundance, swimming behavior, and temperature tolerance are different. In contrast to most sessile peritrich species, the motile V. natans is not strictly bacterivorous but also voraciously feeds upon small algae. We observed three main alterations in the shape of NR of both species with temperature, that is, change in the maximum growth rate, in the initial slope and in the threshold food level needed to sustain the population. Similarly, maximum inges

SUBMITTER: Lu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8044924 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature