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POTENTIAL HETEROTROPHY IN A NATURAL POPULATION OF OSCILLATORIA AGARDHII VAR. ISOTHRIX SKUJA 1
Author(s) -
Saunders George W.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1972.17.5.0704
Subject(s) - heterotroph , population , biology , oscillatoria , algae , botany , ecology , cyanobacteria , bacteria , genetics , demography , sociology
Direct evidence is presented from radioautography that four species of blue‐green algae can take up glucose‐ 14 C and acetate‐ 14 C at the low concentrations known to occur in lake water. The kinetics of glucose‐ 14 C uptake by Oscillatoria agardhii var. isothrix Skuja demonstrate that uptake is metabolic. The quantitative importance of such uptake in the development of the algal population cannot be assessed from the data, but the fact that O. agardhii develops massive densities in the microaerobic zone of many lakes suggests that heterotrophy may be very important to this alga and perhaps to other species occupying this habitat. The phenomenon may occur generally since O. agardhii and lakes with clinograde oxygen curves have worldwide distributions.