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1.
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured in rocky inter‐tidal suspension‐feeders (brown mussels and cape reef worms) and grazers (goat's eye limpets and cape sea urchins) to determine the influences of lifestyle and time on the diets of consumers. Niche partitioning between consumer species within the same feeding guild was assessed using isotopic niche area (a proxy for trophic niche). Specimens were collected monthly at a single site in Southeastern South Africa from July 2010 to June 2011. Temporal variations in isotopic signatures were generally greater in the suspension‐feeders compared with the grazers, isotopic niche widths were smaller in the suspension‐feeders and intra‐population variations in isotope signatures were larger in the grazers. No inter‐specific niche overlap (according to standard ellipse areas) was observed within either feeding guild unless standardization calculations were used. Temporal variations in the diets of all the consumers appeared uncoupled from temporal variability in the isotopic signatures of basal resources in the region; as such, shifts in the consumer diets most likely pertained to feeding behaviour and food preferences. Our data provide new insights into how syntopic rocky shore consumers coexist by partitioning their temporally variable food environment.  相似文献   

2.
Planktonic mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are ubiquitous protists and often abundant in marine environments. Recently many phototrophic dinoflagellate species have been revealed to be mixotrophic organisms and also it is suggested that most dinoflagellates may be mixotrophic or heterotrophic protists. The mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on diverse prey items including bacteria, picoeukaryotes, nanoflagellates, diatoms, other dinoflagellates, heterotrophic protists, and metazoans due to their diverse feeding mechanisms. In turn they are ingested by many kinds of predators. Thus, the roles of the dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs are very diverse. The present paper reviewed the kind of prey which mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are able to feed on, feeding mechanisms, growth and ingestion rates of dinoflagellates, grazing impact by dinoflagellate predators on natural prey populations, predators on dinoflagellates, and red tides dominated by dinoflagellates. Based on this information, we suggested a new marine planktonic food web focusing on mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates and provided an insight on the roles of dinoflagellates in the food web.  相似文献   

3.
A limited area, eddy resolving coupled physical and biological model and data assimilation are used to reproduce and analyse the ecosystem variability observed in the North-East Atlantic in April–May 1997 on Discovery cruise 227. The ecosystem was in a post-bloom grazing controlled regime. The combination of the deep mixing in the upper layer during the cruise and a deeper than average winter convection led to high-nutrient–low-chlorophyll type conditions, which are unusual for this location. These conditions and lack of strong mesoscale physical features led to low spatial variability of phyto- and zooplankton yet strong sensitivity to the variations in the vertical mixing (storm event). Modelling results show that plankton patchiness formation under these conditions was dominated by biological mechanisms (mainly predator–prey oscillations). Furthermore, this mechanism, together with mixing and stirring, are responsible in this order for the observed scales and variability of patchiness from homogeneous low winter concentrations of phyto- and zooplankton.  相似文献   

4.
In order to investigate the parameters controlling the heterotrophic protists (nano-microzooplankton) on the continental shelf of the southern Bay of Biscay, plankton communities and their physico-chemical environment were studied 4 times in February, April, June and September–October 2004 at three stations in the euphotic zone in the Bay of Biscay. The abundance and carbon biomass of heterotrophic protists (ciliates, heterotrophic dinoflagellates and nanoflagellates) as well as all the others groups of plankton (picoplankton, nanophytoplankton, diatoms, autotrophic dinoflagellates, metazoan microzooplankton and mesozooplankton), the environmental parameters and the primary and bacteria production were evaluated at each sampling period. Microzooplankton grazing experiments were undertaken at the same time. Ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates accounted for the main major component of nano- and microzooplankton communities in term of biomass. The total carbon biomass of heterotrophic protists was highest in spring and lowest at the end of summer. The development of heterotrophic protists started after a winter microphytoplankton bloom (principally large diatoms), the biomass was lower in June and was low in September (through inappropriate prey). The carbon requirement of microzooplankton ranged from 50 to more than 100% of daily primary, bacterial and nanoflagellate production. The heterotrophic protist community was predominantly constrained by bottom-up control in spring and at the end of summer via food availability and quality.  相似文献   

5.
Within-day variability in ichthyoplankton and microzooplankton abundances was examined at a single station in Biscayne Bay using replicate tows of 61-cm bongo nets and Niskin bottles to determine if patchiness occurred on the 10–1000 m scale and on the minutes to hours time scale. Fish eggs and larvae often were patchy but copepod nauplii, the predominant food of larvae, usually were randomly distributed at the scales examined and over the 3.15 m-depth water column. Mean patchiness index values were of similar magnitude for fish eggs and larvae but fish eggs were patchy more often than were larvae. Individual taxa of larvae had extremely high patchiness index values on some dates. Variability in fish egg catches often reflected increasing or decreasing abundance trends during the 2.5h sampling period while fish larvae catches often appeared to be clumped within the repetitive series of tows. There was no tendency for patchiness to be correlated among taxa on collection dates nor was it correlated with abundances or wind speeds. Patchiness indices of bay anchovy Anchoa mitchilli eggs and larvae were not significantly correlated, indicating little concordance in tendency to be aggregated, suggesting that distributions were influenced by biological processes related to spawning of adults and behaviour of larvae, in addition to physical processes. Although ichthyoplankton patchiness often did exist at the 10–1000 m scale, on many days ichthyoplankton was uniformly or randomly distributed. Copepod nauplii were abundant (x=90.41?1), randomly distributed on most dates, and apparently readily available as fish larvae food in Biscayne Bay.  相似文献   

6.
We examine the capacity of nematodes from three feeding types (deposit feeder, epistrate feeder, predator) to utilize microphytobenthos (MPB), and assess whether diatom cell size and consumer body size are important drivers of their feeding. We analyzed natural stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen in abundant nematode genera and a variety of carbon sources at an estuarine intertidal flat. All nematodes had δ13C indicating that MPB is their major carbon source. δ15N, however, demonstrated that only one deposit and one epistrate feeder genus obtained most of their carbon from direct grazing on MPB, whereas other deposit feeders and predators obtained at least part of their carbon by predation on MPB grazers. We then performed a microcosm experiment in which equal cell numbers of each of three differently sized strains of the pennate diatom Seminavis were offered as food to four, one and one genera of deposit feeders, epistrate feeders and predators, respectively. Previous studies have shown that all but the epistrate feeder ingest whole diatoms, whereas the epistrate feeder pierces cells and sucks out their contents. Most genera showed markedly higher carbon absorption from medium and large cells than from small ones. When considering the number of cells consumed, however, none of the nematodes which ingest whole cells exhibited a clear preference for any specific diatom size. The epistrate feeder was the smallest nematode taxon considered here, yet it showed a marked preference for large cells. These results highlight that the feeding mechanism is much more important than consumer size as a driver of particle size selection in nematodes grazing MPB.  相似文献   

7.
A combined empirical and modelling study was conducted to further examine the potential importance of grazing by zooplankton in pelagic food webs in which Phaeocystis is a significant or dominant component. Laboratory experiments were designed to measure ingestion of Phaeocystis and other potential prey items which co-occur with Phaeocystis. Grazers included copepods and ciliates, and prey included Phaeocystis colonies and solitary cells, diatoms, ciliates, bacteria, and detritus. These data were expressed in the model currency of nitrogen units, and fit to hyperbolic tangent equations which included minimum prey thresholds. These equations and literature data were used to constrain a food web model whose purpose was to investigate trophic interactions rather than to mimic actual events. Nevertheless, the model output was similar to the general pattern and magnitude of development of Phaeocystis–diatom communities in some environments where they occur, e.g. north Norwegian waters. The model included three forms of nitrogen, three phytoplankton groups, bacteria, two zooplankton groups, and detritus, with detailed flows between compartments. An important component of the model was inclusion of variable prey preferences for zooplankton. The experiments and model simulations suggest several salient conclusions. Phaeocystis globosa colonies were eaten by a medium-sized copepod species, but ingestion appeared to be strongly dependent upon a proper size match between grazer and prey. If not, colonies were eaten little if at all. Phaeocystis solitary cells were ingested rapidly by ciliate microzooplankton, in agreement with prior literature observations. In contrast, detritus was eaten comparatively slowly by both ciliates and copepods. Both types of zooplankton exhibited apparent minimum prey thresholds below which grazing did not occur or was inconsequential. Model simulations implied that transitions between life cycle stages of Phaeocystis may potentially be important to phytoplankton–zooplankton interactions, and that relative rates of ingestion of Phaeocystis by various zooplankton may have significant impacts upon material fluxes through and out of Phaeocystis–diatom ecosystems. Indirect effects of trophic interactions appear to be equally significant as direct effects.  相似文献   

8.
The food and feeding habits of hoki (Macruronus novaezelandiae), southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis), javelin fish (Lepi‐dorhynchus denticulatus), ling (Genypterus blacodes), smooth rattail (Coelorinchus aspercephalus), silverside (Argentina elongata), and small‐scaled notothenid (Notothenia microlepidota) sampled from the Campbell Plateau in 1979 were examined. The importance of prey items in the diet has been assessed by an ‘index of relative importance’, which combines measurements of frequency of occurrence, number, and weight of prey. Hoki, southern blue whiting, and javelin fish are pelagic feeders. Hoki preyed largely on natant decapod crustaceans, amphipods, and myctophid and photichthyid fishes. The main prey of southern blue whiting were amphipods, natant decapods, and euphausiids. Javelin fish fed on natant decapods, amphipods, and small squid. Seasonal and regional differences in feeding, and dietary changes with length of fish were evident. Ling, smooth rattail, silverside, and small‐scaled notothenid are predominantly benthic feeders. Ling preyed on natant decapods, macrourid fishes, and small hoki. The diet of rattail comprised natant decapod crustaceans, opal fishes (Hemerocoetes spp.), and poly‐chaetes. Silverside fed almost solely on salps. Salps, amphipods, brachyuran crustaceans, and opal fishes were the main prey of small‐scaled notothenid.  相似文献   

9.
The equatorial Pacific is an HNLC (High-Nitrate Low-Chlorophyll) region. Modeling and in-situ process studies have confirmed the importance of microzooplankton grazing in this ecosystem. Unfortunately, both the parameters and functions representing microzooplankton grazing within current ecosystem models are poorly constrained. We used a simple 4-component food web model to test the assumption that a lower grazing threshold, which is common in many models, is necessary to achieve the HNLC condition. Without the grazing threshold, the model did not reproduce the HNLC condition. However, by raising the half-saturation constant within the microzooplankton functional response with no threshold, it was possible to reproduce the critical dynamics of the HNLC condition under both steady and moderate seasonal variability in nutrient input. It was also possible to reproduce the HNLC system using a sigmoidal functional response for the microzooplankton, with results somewhere between the other two forms of the model, although this version had the highest sensitivity to changes in its parameters. The three models predicted similar phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity under steady nutrient input, but diverge in these metrics as the amplitude of nutrient input variability increases. These three functional responses also imply certain important differences in the microzooplankton community. Whereas the threshold model had the least sensitivity to parameter choice, the high half-saturation constant, no-threshold model may actually be a better approximation when modeling a community of grazers. Ecosystem models that predict carbon production and export in HNLC regions can be very sensitive to assumptions concerning microzooplankton grazing; future studies need to concentrate on the functional responses of microzooplankton before these models can be used for predicting fluxes in times or regions where forcing is beyond that used to constrain the original model.  相似文献   

10.
Inter‐decadal and geographic variations in the diets of Steller sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus, were examined based on the contents of 408 stomachs collected from coastal areas around Hokkaido Island during the periods 1994–1998 and 2005–2012. The most important prey species in the 1990s were gadid fishes (walleye pollock [Gadus chalcogrammus], Pacific cod [Gadus microcephalus] and saffron cod [Eleginus gracilis]). The frequency of occurrence and gravimetric contribution of gadids decreased in the 2000s latter period at three study sites (Rausu, Shakotan and Rebun) and were replaced by Okhotsk Atka mackerel (Pleurogrammus azonus) and smooth lumpsucker (Aptocyclus ventricosus). However, analysis based on gravimetric composition indicated that the dietary diversity of prey showed only a slight inter‐decadal difference, reflecting the wide diversity of prey ingested during both study periods. These results indicate that Steller sea lions along the Hokkaido coast are opportunistic feeders that utilize a wide variety of prey, and appear to feed mainly upon prey that is easily obtained.  相似文献   

11.
The significance of the microheterotrophic community of bacteria and Protozoa in marine systems is reviewed. In surface waters, bacterial production may be linked to cycles of photosynthetically produced dissolved organic matter released from living phytoplankton. The bacteria then form a principal food resource for grazing Protozoa which are themselves potentially available for exploitation by higher trophic levels. Recent data suggest that the interaction between Protozoa and their bacterial prey may be a good deal more complicated than this simple predator-prey relationship implies. Ciliates may show either "steady-state" or strongly cyclical relationships with their bacterial prey, whose community may in turn be supported to a large extent by the release of dissolved organic matter by the ciliate population. This implies that the low standing stocks of bacteria commonly recorded in many pelagic systems may be sustained, as well as exploited, by bacterivorous Protozoa. In other systems, bacterial production may enter the larger zooplankton directly without involvement of the bacteria-Protozoa-bacteria loop. However, the microheterotrophic community of bacteria and Protozoa in general represents a competitive pathway down which a significant proportion of carbon from primary production may be channelled, compared with that flowing directly into the grazing zooplankton and thence to fish. Despite the high primary production which characterizes temporally unstable areas such as the southern Benguela upwelling system, the carrying capacity for fish may therefore be considerably less than that which might be anticipated for a simple herbivore-dominated food chain.  相似文献   

12.
Deep-seafloor communities, especially those from the ice-covered Arctic, are subject to severe food limitation as the amount of particulate organic matter (POM) from the surface is attenuated with increasing depth. Here, we use naturally occurring stable isotope tracers (δ15N) to broaden our rudimentary knowledge of food web structure and the response of benthic organisms to decreasing food supplies along the bathymetric transect (～1300–5600 m water depth) of the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN. Encompassing five trophic levels, the HAUSGARTEN food web is among the longest indicating continuous recycling of organic material typical of food-limited deep-sea ecosystems. The δ15N signatures ranged from 3.0‰ for Foraminifera to 21.4‰ (±0.4) for starfish (Poraniomorpha tumida). The majority of organisms occupied the second and third trophic level. Demersal fish fed at the third trophic level, consistent with results from stomach contents analysis. There were significant differences in the δ15N signatures of different functional groups with highest δ15N values in predators/scavengers (13.2±0.2‰) followed by suspension feeders (11.2±0.2‰) and deposit feeders (10.2±0.3‰). Depth (=increasing food limitation) affected functional groups in different ways. While the isotopic signatures of predators/scavengers did not change, those of suspension feeders increased with depth, and the reverse was found for deposit feeders. In contrast to the results of other studies, the δ15N signatures in POM samples obtained below 800 m did not vary significantly with depth indicating that changes in δ15N values are unlikely to be responsible for the depth-related δ15N signature changes observed for benthic consumers. However, the δ15N signatures of sediments decreased with increasing depth, which also explains the decrease found for deposit feeders. Suspension feeders may rely increasingly on particles trickling down the HAUSGARTEN slope and carrying higher δ15N signatures than the decreasing POM supplies, which elevates the δ15N value of their tissues. Our results imply that a depth-stratified approach should be taken to avoid a misinterpretation of data obtained at different depths.  相似文献   

13.
Combining field experiments with the biomass distribution data of dominant suspension feeders we compared the benthic and pelagic suspension feeding rates in shallow non-tidal brackish water coastal habitats. We found that pelagic grazing exceeded benthic grazing in almost all cases, on average from 14 to 4819 times depending on the site. Benthic grazing rates were related to site-specific environmental parameters and showed no relationship with water chlorophyl a (Chl a ) content, whereas pelagic grazing rates varied both spatially and temporally and were related to water Chl a content. Our results indicate that in several shallow coastal habitats, pelagic suspension feeding substantially exceeds benthic suspension feeding. This suggests that pelagic recycling is higher than the amounts of energy redirected from pelagic to benthic food webs by benthic suspension feeders. These results increase our knowledge of the energy flows in coastal ecosystems.  相似文献   

14.
Trophic studies are fundamental to understanding the dynamics of assemblages and functional roles of species within ecosystems, contributing to the identification of factors responsible for the organization and structure of communities. This study aimed to analyse the trophic organization of tidepool fish assemblages in the tropical Southwestern Atlantic, based on the underlying idea that food resources are not limiting and that trophic guild formation is not driven by food competition. Diets were based on feeding index values of food categories for 12 representative species collected in six tidepools (20º49′ S, 40º36′ W) at quarterly intervals (2005 to 2007). The main food categories were small crustaceans, polychaetes and macroalgae. Multivariate techniques evidenced two multispecific trophic guilds: small‐prey carnivores, including Bathygobius soporator, Bathygobius geminatus, Malacoctenus delalandii and Halichoeres poeyi, and herbivores, including Sparisoma axillare and Acanthurus bahianus. Other species presented significantly different diets and were classified into the following guilds: omnivores feeding on filamentous algae and copepods (Abudefduf saxatilis); large‐prey carnivores (Labrisomus nuchipinnis); omnivores feeding on polychaetes and filamentous algae (Stegastes fuscus); and polychaete feeders (Ahlia egmontis). Gymnothorax funebris and Gymnothorax moringa were classified as carcinophagores and piscivores, respectively. Trophic organization appears related to species convergence toward the use of abundant food resources, driven by a combination of factors allowing some resource partitioning through inter‐specific differences in consumer size, microhabitat, behavior, and trophic specialization.  相似文献   

15.
While the importance of top‐down control by grazers in maintaining tropical reef community structure is well known, the effect of ‘fishing down the food web’, which simultaneously changes the abundance and size of herbivorous fishes, has received less attention. As many fishing practices target the biggest fish and regulations often set minimum size limits, understanding size‐dependency of this controlling force is important. We evaluated the hypothesis that reduction in the abundance and size of fish, regardless of species identity, reduces the role of herbivory in controlling algal abundance on reefs and assessed variation in efficacy of this top‐down control on different types of common macroalgae. We quantified herbivory rates within cages of differing opening sizes on assemblages of four common algal species (Padina boryana, Dictyota bartayresiana, Halimeda opuntia and Galaxaura fasciculata) on two fringing reefs in Moorea, French Polynesia. Small acanthurids (<15 cm length) were the dominant herbivorous fish while other herbivorous fish were rare. For the two most palatable algae, the majority of herbivory occurred in open plots, with herbivory reduced by >50% in the largest opening cages (6 × 6 cm) where the maximum size fish entering was 12 cm in length (mean = 7.6, SE = 0.4). Fish entering medium (4.5 × 4.5 cm openings, maximum fish length = 8 cm, mean = 6.3, SE = 0.4) and small (3 × 3 cm openings, no fish observed entering) cages had herbivory rates approximately equal to the control treatment (1 × 1 cm openings). Consumption varied among algal species, with minimal consumption of physically and chemically defended algae and no pattern across treatments. Our results demonstrate a need for management plans to not only maintain the overall abundance of herbivorous fish but to protect the largest sizes for effective top‐down control of algal communities.  相似文献   

16.
《Journal of Sea Research》2000,43(3-4):345-356
During spring blooms 1998 and 1999, three complementary methods were used to evaluate the in situ feeding activities of the dominant copepod species of the Belgian coastal zone: gut pigment content analysis using HPLC, the 14C tracer method, and cell count experiments. The results obtained by all three methods consistently showed that Phaeocystis globosa is not an adequate food source for the spring copepods in the Belgian coastal zone. Our results demonstrated that, among the potential prey, copepods strongly selected diatoms and microzooplankton, and that these types of prey accounted for the major part of the ingested carbon. However, diatoms and microzooplankton ingestion did not always seem sufficient in terms of carbon to avoid food limitation. Comparison of clearance rates exerted on different potential prey types during the P. globosa peak with those before and after the P. globosa peak showed that the copepods' feeding pressure on diatoms was reduced during the P. globosa peak while that on microzooplankton was not. The low grazing pressure on P. globosa, together with the preferential grazing on diatoms, which reduces the competition for nutrients, and the predation on microzooplankton organisms, which reduces the microzooplankton grazing pressure on P. globosa cells, are likely to favour the P. globosa bloom in the Southern Bight of the North Sea.  相似文献   

17.
Although grazing is considered an essential process controlling epiphyte biomass on seagrass leaves, there is still a lack of fundamental knowledge about the species‐specific consumption rates of the most common grazers in Mediterranean meadows. This study experimentally assessed the effect of Posidonia oceanica‐associated gastropod grazing on early successional biofilm and the species‐specific relationship between biofilm consumption rates and biofilm biomass. Two biofilms on artificial substrata, both developed in situ (in a P. oceanica meadow), one under ambient conditions and the other under nutrient‐enriched conditions, were offered in aquaria assays to nine species of grazers found in P. oceanica meadows. Biofilm consumption rates and their association with biofilm biomass were assessed. It was found that: (i) there was a positive association between biofilm consumption and biofilm biomass up to 20 mg Chl a·m?2 for Bittium reticulatum, Gibbula ardens, Jujubinus exasperatus and Tricolia pullus; (ii) Alvania montagui, B. reticulatum and Jujubinus striatus showed the highest consumption rates and are thus expected to be amongst the leading consumers in early‐successional epiphytic communities; (iii) there was not an increase of consumption rate when a substratum colonized under nutrient‐enriched conditions was offered to any of the nine studied species. This study provides species‐specific consumption rates knowledge that is useful for the assessment of the strength of grazer–epiphyte interactions and trophic fluxes in P. oceanica meadows.  相似文献   

18.
Although bioerosion is among the most destructive forces on coral reefs, indirect effects influencing the bioerosion dynamics are understudied. Here, I assess the hypothesis that coral reef grazers indirectly facilitate proliferation of bioeroding sponges by removing epibiotic fleshy seaweeds from the Great Barrier Reef. This study quantifies the degree of spatial correlation between the distribution of bioeroding sponges and the distribution of grazing pressure, as evidenced by the abundance of seaweed and parrotfish bite marks. While the sponge tissue area was negatively correlated with seaweed coverage, the number of parrotfish bite marks was associated with less algae and more sponge tissue. Several factors derived from grazing on seaweeds may facilitate sponge growth: increases in the availability of light may favor primary production by symbiotic zooxanthellae and thereby increase growth of bioeroding sponges; on the other hand, sponge settlement may be facilitated on grazed substrates. All these factors are likely related, and contribute to an increasing erosion of coral reefs. Similar processes have recently been described in Mediterranean ecosystems, suggesting that the interactions I document here, could be widespread.  相似文献   

19.
We adapted the dilution technique to study microzooplankton grazing of algal dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) vs. Chl a, and to estimate the impact of microzooplankton grazing on dimethyl sulfide (DMS) production in the Labrador Sea. Phytoplankton numbers were dominated by autotrophic nanoflagellates in the Labrador basin, but diatoms and colonial Phaeocystis pouchetii contributed significantly to phytomass at several high chlorophyll stations and on the Newfoundland and Greenland shelfs. Throughout the region, growth of algal Chl a and DMSP was generally high (0.2–1 d−1), but grazing rates were lower and more variable, characteristic of the early spring bloom period. Production and consumption of Chl a vs. DMSP followed no clear pattern, and sometimes diverged greatly, likely because of their differing distributions among algal prey taxa and size class. In several experiments where Phaeocystis was abundant, we observed DMS production proportional to grazing rate, and we found clear evidence of DMS production by this haptophyte following physical stress such as sparging or filtration. It is possible that grazing-activated DMSP cleavage by Phaeocystis contributes to grazer deterrence: protozoa and copepods apparently avoided healthy colonies (as judged by relative growth and grazing rates of Chl a and DMSP), and grazing of Phaeocystis was significant only at one station where cells were in poor condition. Although we hoped to examine selective grazing on or against DMSP-containing algal prey, the dilution technique cannot differentiate selective ingestion and varying digestion rates of Chl a and DMSP. We also found that the dilution method alone was poorly suited for assessing the impact of grazing on dissolved sulfur pools, because of rapid microbial consumption and the artifactual release of DMSP and DMS during filtration. Measuring and understanding the many processes affecting organosulfur cycling by the microbial food web in natural populations remain a technical challenge that will likely require a combination of techniques to address.  相似文献   

20.
Sulfide oxidizing bacterial mats are common in regions of the continental shelves characterized by high primary production and the resultant oxygen minimum zone. These mats are made up of several species of Beggiatoa and/or Thioploca, which oxidize sulfide that is generated in the sediment. Thioploca spp. inhabit a large polysaccharide sheath that encompasses bundles of 1–20 filaments (trichomes), each ranging from 3 to 60 μm in diameter. This sheath has been shown to be a critical component of the autecology of Thioploca. Analysis of Thioploca from cold seeps in Monterey Bay using light and transmission electron microscopy identified new and diverse microbial assemblages associated with interstitial spaces between trichomes, inside the sheath. Small diameter, non‐vacuolate, filamentous prokaryotes were numerous. Amoebae, euglenozoa, ciliates and other protists of unknown affiliation were observed in sheaths. Most of the protists possessed food vacuoles and some protists showed ultrastructural evidence of endosymbionts. These observations suggest that Thioploca sheaths may serve as oases on the sea floor, providing nutritional and detoxification services to previously unrecognized microbial partners.  相似文献   

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