Ingestion of a bacterivorous ciliate by the oyster Crassostrea gigas: Protozoa as a trophic link between picoplankton and benthic suspension-feeders


Autoria(s): Le Gall, Solange; Bel Hassen, Malika; Le Gall, Pierre
Data(s)

1997

Resumo

The linked concepts of 'microbial loop' and 'protozoan trophic link' have been very well documented in filter-feeding microzooplankton such as copepods, but have not been applied to energy transfer to benthic suspension-feeding macrofauna, with the exception of the recent demonstration of heterotrophic flagellate assimilation by mussels. The oyster Crassostrea gigas obtains energy resources by filtering microalgae (similar to 5 to 100 mu m). However, in turbid estuaries, light-limited phytoplanktonic production cannot entirely account for oyster energy requirements. Conversely, picoplankters (<2 mu m), which are main effecters of coastal energy flow and matter cycling, are not efficiently retained by oyster filtration. Ciliate protozoal as both micro-sized cells (similar to 5 to 100 run) and bacteria grazers, may represent a major intermediary in trophic transfer between picoplankton and metazoa. The ciliate Uronema was intensely cultured and labelled, using the cyanobacteria Synechococcus as an auto-fluorescent biomarker. The labelled ciliates were offered as potential prey to oysters. We report here the first experimental evidence of a significant retention and ingestion of ciliates by oysters, supporting the role of protozoa as a realistic trophic link between picoplankters and filter-feeding bivalves and thus enhancing their potential importance in estuarine microbial food webs.

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00337/44788/44482.pdf

DOI:10.3354/meps152301

http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00337/44788/

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

Inter-research

Direitos

Inter-Research 1997

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

restricted use

Fonte

Marine Ecology Progress Series (0171-8630) (Inter-research), 1997 , Vol. 152 , N. 1-3 , P. 301-306

Palavras-Chave #oyster #food sources #picoplankton #protozoa #trophic link
Tipo

text

Publication

info:eu-repo/semantics/article