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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4947

Ernst-Josef Cleven; Seasonal and spatial distribution of ciliates in the sandy hyporheic zone of a lowland stream. Europ.J.Protistol. 40:71-84, 2004

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The seasonal and spatial distribution of abundance and biomass as well as the taxonomic composition of ciliates inhabiting the sandy hyporheic zone of a lowland stream were studied. The mean abundances varied between 0 and 895 cells ml-1 sediment, and the mean ciliate biomass ranged between 0 and 5.3 µgC ml-1 sediment. Ciliate numbers and biomasses were greatest at the sediment surface and declined significantly with increasing sample depth. Abundance and biomass varied seasonally, with maximum values in late autumn and early winter and minimum values in early summer. The community was dominated by small representatives of the Hymenostomatia and Peritrichia. Ciliate community composition changed with depth from a very diverse community at the sediment surface to a less diverse one at greater sediment depths. Ciliate abundance and biomass were two orders of magnitude lower in the channel water than in the hyporheic zone. Although representatives of all sediment taxa could also be found in the channel water, the greatest concentrations of Peritrichia and Suctoria were in the hyporheic zone. The species of the sandy Ladberger Muhlenbach sediment were ubiquitous; there was no single ciliate fauna that proved to be typical for this kind of freshwater biotope.