Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8382488 | European Journal of Protistology | 2018 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
Vertical variations in trophic-functional patterns of biofilm-dwelling ciliates were studied in coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, northern China. A total of 50 species were identified and assigned to four trophic-functional groups (TFgrs): algivores (A), bacterivorous (B), non-selective (N) and raptors (R). The trophic-functional structures of the ciliate communities showed significant variability among different water depths: (1) with increasing water depth, relative species numbers and relative abundances of groups A and R decreased sharply whereas those of groups B and N increased gradually; (2) in terms of the frequency of occurrences, group A dominated at depths of 1-3.5â¯m whereas group B dominated at 5â¯m, while in terms of the probability density function of the trophic-functional spectrum, group A was the highest contributor at 1â¯m and group B was highest at the other three depths; (3) distance-based redundancy analyses revealed significant differences in trophic-functional patterns among the four depths, except between 2 and 3.5â¯m (Pâ¯>â¯0.05); and (4) the trophic-functional trait diversity increased from 1 to 3.5â¯m and decreased sharply at 5â¯m. Our results suggest that the biofilm-dwelling ciliates maintain a stable trophic-functional pattern and high biodiversity at depths of 1-3.5â¯m.
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Authors
Mamun Abdullah Al, Yangyang Gao, Guangjian Xu, Zheng Wang, Alan Warren, Henglong Xu,