Seasonal dynamics, composition and feeding patterns of ciliate assemblages in oligotrophic lakes covering a wide pH range

Seasonal variation of the protozooplanktonic community in a tropical oligotrophic environment (Ilha Solteira reservoir, Brazil)

“…Velho et al, 2005;Araújo and Costa, 2007;Chróst et al, 2009;Kiss et al, 2009;Xu and Cronberg, 2010) and within the range of those found in other oligotrophic systems (e.g. Quevedo et al, 2003;Pirlot et al, 2005;Macek et al, 2006;De Wever et al, 2007;Claessens et al, 2010). This pattern is expected because, according to Laybourn-Parry (1992), the protozoan densities increase with the trophic level of the ecosystems.…”

Inter-annual ciliate distribution variation within the late stratification oxycline in a monomictic lake, Lake Alchichica (Mexico)

“…Ciliate samples taken at roughly the same stage of Lake Alchichica's annual stratification cycle and in Lake La Preciosa showed quite similar patterns from the point of view of the distribution of biomass among the main ecological groups (as defined in Macek et al, 2006), but differences were found at the species level. The most important ciliates throughout the mixed layer were related to picoplanctivory on both APP and heterotrophic bacteria.…”

“…The QPS patterns of Alchichica ciliates have been registered routinely in recent years (Macek et al, 2006;Peštová et al, 2008;Bautista-Reyes and Macek, 2012), thus it was possible to confirm the identification of mixed-layer species by comparing them with the description of living samples sufficiently concentrated during the phytoplankton blooms (surface Nodularia sp. and deep chlorophyll maxima of Cyclotella alchichicana and Chaetoceros elmorei).…”

“…The importance of ciliate biomass in stratified freshwater bodies has been quantified since the 1980s (Hecky and Kling, 1981;Beaver and Crisman, 1989;Müller et al, 1991;Sonntag et al, 2002;Pirlot et al, 2005;Macek et al, 2006;Yasindi et al, 2007), and their role in the microbial food web has been demonstrated, showing their feeding on bacteria (Sherr et al, 1991;Šimek et al, 1990, 1995Weisse et al, 1990;Oikonomou et al, 2014), phytoplankton (Müller, 1989;Sommaruga and Psenner, 1993) and picocyanobacteria (Sherr et al, 1991;Šimek et al, 1995Šimek et al, , Pernthaler et al, 1996Peštová et al, 2008;Tarbe et al, 2011). Several studies have shown that during the annual cycle, ciliates typically present spring and summer peaks that are bottom-up-and top-down-controlled, respectively (Šimek el al., 1990, 1995Weisse et al, 1990;Müller et al, 1991;Tirok and Gaedke, 2007;Sommer et al, 2012).…”

The water chemistry of some shallow lakes in Northern Patagonia and their nitrogen status in comparison with remote lakes in different regions of the globe

“…Hence, remote lakes are considered "early response" indicators of climate change, atmospheric deposition and air pollutants. Consequently, a number of studies on remote lakes in different regions of the globe have been performed with the aim to describe their water chemistry and biota (e.g., Macek et al 2006;Llames & Vinocur 2007;Diaz et al 2007;Kumke et al 2007), and to evaluate their sensitiveness towards anthropogenic stressors like water exploitation, land use change, tourism and recreational use (Mc Garrigle & Champ 1999), pollutant deposition (Allan 1999;Wolfe et al 2001), and, more recently, climate change (Filippelli et al 2006;Sommaruga 2007). …”