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AME 26:167-179 (2001)
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Abstract
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Niche separation in common prostome freshwater ciliates: the effect of food and temperature
Thomas Weisse1,*, Nicole Karstens2, Volker C. L. Meyer2,**, Lore Janke2, Sabine Lettner1, Kathrin Teichgräber2
1Institute for Limnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Mondseestrasse 9, 5310 Mondsee, Austria
2Max Planck Institute for Limnology, PO Box 165, 24306 Plön, Germany
*E-mail: thomas.weisse@oeaw.ac.at **Present address: Leibnitz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Department of Shallow Lakes and Lowland Rivers, Müggelseedamm 301, 12587 Berlin, Germany
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ABSTRACT: We characterized the ecological niches of several planktonic prostome ciliates with respect to their food demand and temperature. We found intergeneric differences between Balanion planctonicum and the 2 Urotricha spp., U.
furcata and U. farcta. There were also significant interspecific differences within the genus Urotricha and intraspecific differences between 2 Balanion spp. and 3 U. furcata isolates from distant lakes. Relative to
Urotricha spp., Balanion appeared to be the superior competitor at low to medium food concentrations and reached high growth rates at moderate temperatures. The threshold prey concentration for positive population growth of B.
planctonicum was lower than that obtained for the 2 Urotricha spp., but higher than that reported earlier for the marine species, B. comatum. A third Urotricha species, U. castalia, was investigated for its temperature
response only. The temperature response revealed species-specific temperature adaptation between B. planctonicum and the sympatric U. furcata, and further differences within the genus Urotricha: U. farcta grew fastest at high
temperatures; U. castalia was adapted to low temperatures; and U. furcata peaked at moderately warm temperatures.
KEY WORDS: Ciliates · Balanion spp. · Urotricha spp. · Growth · Ingestion rate · Clonal differences
Full text in pdf format
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Published in AME Vol.
26, No. 2
(2001) on December 5
Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2001
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