Ref ID : 3388
Maeda Masachika; [An outline of ecological studies on ciliated protozoa in the aquatic environment]. La mer (Bulletin de la Societe franco-japonaise d'oceanographie) 23(2):89-96, 1985
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The grazing food chain which starts from primary producers and extends to consumers is a main process for the transfer of organic materials in the aquatic environment. In this process the populations of consumers, zooplankton and fishers, are regulated by phytoplankton biomass, and it is said that zooplankton can not obtain enough food on many occasions if phytoplankton is the only available food for them. The detritus food chain is thought to compensate for this deficiency in supply of food. Heterotrophic microorganisms, such as bacteria, zooflagellates, amoeba and ciliates are the main components of this food chain. Although many works on the ecology of tintinnid ciliates have been carried out by marine biologists, non-loricated ciliates such as gymnostomes, oligotrichs and hypotrichs which are the predominant species among the microorganisms present in the detritus food chain in sediment and water have not received so much attention. In this paper the ecology of ciliated protozoa in the aquatic environment is briefly described and generic descriptions of oligotrichine ciliates, which are common species in the aquatic environment, are also given.