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Grazing of ciliates on blue–green algae: Effects of ciliate encystment and related phenomena
Author(s) -
Bader F. G.,
Tsuchiya H. M.,
Fredrickson A. G.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260180304
Subject(s) - ciliate , chemostat , algae , biology , protozoa , botany , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , genetics
Grazing of the ciliate Colpoda steinii on the blue–green alga Anacystis nidulans has been studied in batch and chemostat type laboratory cultures. Growth of the populations, grazing of the ciliates on the algae, hydrodynamic washout of the populations (in chemostat cultures), encystment of Colpoda , and transfer of cysts from the liquid culture to the vessel wall and their attachment thereto were all found to have significant effects on the dynamics of this system. In addition, reinoculation of the liquid with ciliates excysted from the wall and with algae detached from the wall may be important. The interaction of all of these processes produces quite complex dynamical phenomena which at present cannot be predicted by a model. The results obtained differ from those found earlier for feeding of ciliates or slime mold amoebas on bacteria in that steady states of coexistence, rather than sustained oscillations, were exhibited by the present system.