Paramecium - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Protozoologie / German ...

Unexpected morphological and functional diversity of heterotrophic
flagellates in a small floodplain pond
Áron Keve Kiss, Keve Tihamér Kiss, Miklós Puky
Inst. Ecol. Bot., Hungarian Danube Research Stat. HAS
An Euglena sanguinea bloom was observed in a minute pond in the
floodplain area of the River Tisza, Hungary. Two 0.5 l volume dipped
samples were taken, and left alone for microbial succession. Samples
were monitored daily, for one month; living samples were investigated
by video microscopy. The heterotrophic flagellate community is
extremely rich, we found altogether 54 species. Among these, 12 species
are hardly assignable to described ones, many of them are likely
new (Cercomonas, Colpodella, Heteromita, Multicilia, Notosolenus,
Protaspis, Salpingoeca species, and some unknown genera). Adaptive
behavioural and feeding traits of flagellate species are investigated.
Several different feeding strategies are distinguishable; some species
has more than one feeding and food searching type, according to life
cycle state. However, a few behavioural elements are also found,
which seems to be ineffective for food searching. Between some species,
food source partitioning is obvious according to food size and
food accessibility, indicating the possibility of coexistence. High morphospecies
and functional diversity, and high proportion of undescribed
forms, suggests that our knowledge is still limited about the diversity
and function of heterotrophic flagellates in freshwater aquatic
habitats.
aronkevekiss@yahoo.co.uk
kis7972@ella.hu
h7949puk@ella.hu
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