Predation on Protozoa: its importance to zooplankton

Protozoa are an important component of both the nano- and microplanktonin marine and freshwater environments and are preyed upon byzooplankton, including suspension-feeding cope pods, some gelatinouszoopiankters and some first-feeding fish larvae. The clearancerates of suspension-feeding zooplankton for ciliates, in particular,are higher than for most phytoplankton. For at least some suspension-feedingzooplankton, protozoans are calculated to be quantitativelyan important component of the diet during certain seasons. Inlaboratory studies, protozoan components in the diet appearto enhance growth and survival of certain life-history stagesor enhance fecundity. These data suggest that protozoans arequalitatively as well as quantitatively important in the dietsof marine zooplankton. Most studies of predation on Protozoahave focused on the euphotic zone in nearshore waters. Predationon Protozoa is expected, however, to be particularly importantboth quantitatively and qualitatively in marine environmentsand seasons in which primary production is dominated by cells<5 µm in size, such as nearshore environments afterthe spring phytoplankton bloom, in oligotrophic waters, andin environments dominated by detritus-dominated food webs, suchas the deep sea. In detritus-dominated food webs, Protozoa maybe a source of essential nutrients and may thus facilitate utilizationof bacterial and detrital carbon by metazoan plankton.