Survival of Ciliate Protozoa under Starvation Conditions and at Low Bacterial Levels

Under starvation conditions, 50% survivorship times displayed no significant relationship with cell size in 2 ciliate species in this study and 5 protozoan species from the literature. Differences in survival ability were attributed to differences in weight-specific respiratory rate and relative mot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbial ecology 1984-03, Vol.10 (1), p.47-59
Main Authors: Jackson, Keith M., Berger, Jacques
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amoeba proteus
Bacteria
Biochemistry. Physiology. Immunology. Molecular biology
Biological and medical sciences
Chaos carolinense
Colpidium campylum
Condylostoma vorticella
Didinium nasutum
Euplotes patella
Famine
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Natural selection
Paramecium caudatum
Paramecium primaurelia
Paraurostyla
Patella
Ponds
Population density
Population ecology
Protozoa
Respiratory rate
Starvation
Stentor coeruleus
Tokophrya lemnarum
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Summary:Under starvation conditions, 50% survivorship times displayed no significant relationship with cell size in 2 ciliate species in this study and 5 protozoan species from the literature. Differences in survival ability were attributed to differences in weight-specific respiratory rate and relative motility among these 7 species. At low bacterial levels, 4 ciliate species in this study displayed significant differences in survivorship. High survivorship of Euplotes patella relative to that of Paramecium caudatum and Paraurostyla sp. at low ciliate densities was attributed to the lower individual energy requirements of this smaller species. High survivorship of Stentor coeruleus was interpreted as an effect of its large quantity of reserves and low respiratory rate. The survivorship of E. patella was reduced at a higher population density. Four ciliate species survived longer at 15°C than at 22°C. Q10values based on 50% survivorship times at these 2 temperatures were much lower than Q10values based on respiratory rates and growth rates of well-fed ciliates over a similar temperature range.
ISSN:0095-3628
1432-184X
DOI:10.1007/BF02011594