Open AccessThe distribution of protozoa among soil aggregates
Author(s) -
Vargas Ronald,
Hattori Tsutomu
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1990.tb04053.x
Subject(s) - protozoa , arable land , bacteria , biology , distribution (mathematics) , aggregate (composite) , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , botany , agriculture , mathematics , mathematical analysis , genetics , materials science , composite material
The distribution of 5 groups of protozoan cells among soil aggregates from an arable field soil was investigated, by incubating each aggregate (1–2 mm) in a ring on an agar plate with a prey bacterium and detecting emergent‐active forms of each group from respective aggregates. The detection of each protozoan group was especially affected by scattered times of the excystment and the rapid re‐encystment owing to food exhaustion. The cumulative number of protozoan‐positive rings obtained through observation at short time intervals, therefore, provided us with more reliable results. It was shown that the distribution of protozoan cells was not even but greatly conglomerative among soil aggregates.