Assimilation rate of bacterioplankton biomass by aplastidic protists in the North Atlantic Ocean

Range 1.5-5.0 bacterioplankton cells per protist cell per hour
Organism Heterotrophic protists
Reference MV Zubkov & GA Tarran 2008. High bacterivory by the smallest phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature 455(7210):224-6 doi: 10.1038/nature07236 p.224 right column third paragraphPubMed ID18690208
Method Determination of the proportion of radioisotop-labeled bacterioplankton biomass which was assimilated by protists
Comments P.224 right column 3rd paragraph: "Aplastidic protists assimilated bacterioplankton biomass at a rate equivalent to 1.5–5.0 average bacterioplankton cells per protist cell per hour (Fig. 1a). Being specialized bacterivores, aplastidic protists had the highest bacterivory rates among planktonic protists both in the surface mixed layer and the thermocline: on average it was 13 times higher (P < 0.001) than small plastidic protists, 8.3 times higher (P < 0.005) than medium plastidic protists and 3.9 times higher (P < 0.001) than large plastidic protists in the temperate waters."
Entered by Nina
ID 113497