Onboard incubation experiments were conducted to examine the feeding rates and selectivity of the cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis on natural assemblages of microplankton during the spring bloom in the Oyashio region. O. similis cleared ciliates at higher rates (2.8–11.9 mL copepod 1 d ) than dinoflagellates (1.4 mL copepod 1 d ), with no detectable ingestion of diatoms. Clearance increased wi...

The protargol staining method has proved to be indispensable for revealing the cellular structures of a variety of protozoa, especially the flagellates and ciliates. Protargol provides permanent stains of a variety of cellular structures: nuclei, extrusomes, basal bodies, and microfilamentous constituents of cells. Together with the older silver nitrate methods, protargol impregnations have pro...

This paper documents a multi-level microcosm system: Dreissena-ciliates-bacteria-viruses. In the first comprehensive investigation of endocytobionts present in the cytoplasm of endosymbiotic ciliates from mussels, bacteria are described from Conchophthirus acuminatus and an undescribed Ophryoglena sp. species which are, respectively, commensal and parasitic in the freshwater bivalve Dreissena p...

Ciliates can form an important link between the microbial loop and higher trophic levels primarily through consumption by copepods. This high predation pressure has resulted in a number of ciliate species developing rapid escape swimming behaviour. Several species of these escaping ciliates also possess a long contractile tail for which the functionality remains unresolved. We use high-speed vi...

Bacteria, fungi and protozoa inhabiting the rumen, the largest chamber of the ruminants' stomach, release large quantities of hydrogen during the fermentation of carbohydrates. The hydrogen is used by coexisting methanogens to produce methane in energy-yielding processes. This work shows, for the first time, a fundamental possibility of using a hydrogen-rich fermentation gas produced by selecte...

We studied the effects of attached peritrich ciliates on the fitness of natural populations of Acartia hudsonica (Pinhey) in Stony Brook Harbor, Long Island Sound. Ciliate infection occurred during late spring, and ciliate load (No. ind.-‘) was not related to copepod age, stage, or body size. Simulated in situ experiments conducted throughout the period of abundance of A. hudsonica showed that ...