Tintinnid agglutination of coccoliths: A selective or random process?

This study suggests that tintinnids are not strongly selective when agglutinating coccoliths from their environment. If selectivity does occur it may be due to the possibility that tintinnids exclude, for their loricae building, coccoliths above a certain size limit.     

Seasonal variations of tintinnids (Ciliophora: Oligotrichida) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

Tintinnids exhibit a bimodal peak of abundance in NarragansettBay, with a minimum in late spring and a lesser peak in latesummer-early autumn, depending on location. Thirty-three speciesin eight genera were identified, with the fauna dominated bythe genus Tintinnopsis. Tintinnid abundance was not obviouslycorrelated with salinity, temperature, or nanoplankton chlorophyllconcentration. Patterns of change in seasonal abundance canserve as a framework for posing additional questions of therole tintinnids play in marine food webs.     

STUDIES ON MARINE PLANKTON DIATOMS. II. RESTING SPORE MORPHOLOGY1

A morphological study of resting spores in five marine planktonic diatom species using electron microscopy indicates that Bacteriastrum delicatulum Cleve and Leptocylindrus danicus Cleve spores bear little resemblance, to their vegetative cells. Detonula confervacea (Cleve) Gran and Stephanopyxis turris (Grev. & Arn.) Ralfs spores have several features in common with their vegetative cells, and Rhizosolenia setigera Brightwell lies between the two extremes. The function of resting spores in relation to diatom life cycles is briefly discussed. Spore formation may be a primitive characteristic in the life cycle and may no longer have significant survival value for the species.