Quelques Donnees Ecologiques sur les Cilies Libres de l'Afrique

Several problems concerning the ecology of free-living ciliateProtozoa from the continent of Africa require and are worthyof in-depth study. But work already carried out, primarily bythe author alone, indicates several general conclusions of interest.The infusorian fauna of inter-tropical Africa, surprisinglyenough, is poor and little diversified, apparently due to unfavorableecological (mostly chemical-physical) conditions. Endemic species,however, are quite frequently found: of 130 species studied,23% were new. Finally, although the density of ciliates is oftenlow, in some cases populations of certain species have presenteda biomass which must play a role of definite significance inthe food-chain cycle in the habitats in which they occur.