An approach to determining potential surrogates for analyzing ecological patterns of planktonic ciliate communities in marine ecosystems

Abstract

The results suggest that the use of simplifications at both taxonomic and numerical resolutions are time-efficient and would allow improving sampling strategies of large spatial/temporal scale monitoring programs and biological conservation researches in the marine ecosystem with a relative paucity of scientists.

Can Nonloricate Ciliate Assemblages be a Surrogate to Analyze Taxonomic Relatedness Pattern of Ciliated Protozoan Communities for Marine Bioassessment? A Case Study in Jiaozhou Bay, Northern China

“…Furthermore, the structural (e.g., richness, diversity and evenness of species) and functional (e.g., colonization rate constant) parameters based on the protozoan communities have been correlated with the levels of pollution and eutrophication (e.g., Cairns and Henebry, 1982;Gong et al, 2005;Xu et al, 2002;Zhang et al, 2012). Such studies on planktonic protozoan communities in marine environment, however, have rarely been carried out Kchaou et al, 2009;Xu et al, 2008;, 2011d).…”

“…In the recent decade, many investigations on taxonomic sufficiency for determining a useful surrogate of a biological community matrix have increasingly been of concern to minimize the cost of evaluating environmental status and ecological pattern and quality (Arvanitidis et al, 2009;Warwick, 1988;Warwick and Clarke, 1995;. Thus, methodologies employing taxonomic surrogates have been widely used in marine ecological investigations and monitoring programs (Leonard et al, 2006;Olsgard et al, 1998;Prato, et al, 2009;Rogers et al, 1999;Somerfield et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2011cXu et al, , 2011d.…”

“…Our previous investigations have demonstrated that the planktonic ciliate communities based on either species-level or lower (e.g., genus-and family-level) resolutions can be used as a useful indicator of water quality status in marine ecosystems Xu et al, 2011aXu et al, , 2011d. Xu et al (2011a) revealed that the relatedness measures of marine planktonic ciliates are robust as a bioindicator of water quality.…”

“…Xu et al (2011a) revealed that the relatedness measures of marine planktonic ciliates are robust as a bioindicator of water quality. Based on our previous reports, nonloricate ciliates (i.e., the forms without lorica or shell, such as oligotrichids, cyrtophorids, hypotrichids and haptorids) are the primary contributor to the planktonic ciliate communities in terms of both abundance and occurrence in marine ecosystems Xu et al, 2011aXu et al, , 2011d. There is little understanding, however, with regard to the taxonomic relatedness patterns of the nonloricate ciliate assemblages or their robustness in assessing water quality status as a potential surrogate of total planktonic ciliate communities.…”

Are non-loricate ciliates a primary contributor to ecological pattern of planktonic ciliate communities? A case study in Jiaozhou Bay, northern China

“…the forms without lorica or shell, are an important component of whole planktonic ciliate communities in terms of both abundance and occurrence in marine ecosystems (Jiang et al, 2011a, b;Xu et al, 2011c). the forms without lorica or shell, are an important component of whole planktonic ciliate communities in terms of both abundance and occurrence in marine ecosystems (Jiang et al, 2011a, b;Xu et al, 2011c).…”