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Effect of Temperature and Prey Type on Nutrient Regeneration by an Antarctic Bacterivorous Protist

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Abstract

Experimental studies were carried out on an Antarctic isolate of the heterotrophic nanoflagellate Paraphysomonas imperforata to examine the efficiency of incorporation and remineralization of nitrogen and phosphorus from bacterial prey. Experiments were carried out over a temperature range from ambient Antarctic temperature (0 °C) to 10 °C. Temperature had a marked effect on the maximal growth rate of the phagotrophic nanoflagellate. Growth rate in the presence of high prey abundance ranged from 0.6 day−1 at 0 °C to 2.6 day−1 at 10 °C. In contrast, temperature had no discernable effect on the efficiencies of incorporation and remineralization of major nutrients by P. imperforata. The efficiencies of phosphorus and nitrogen incorporation from prey biomass averaged over the temperature range examined were 58 and 39%, respectively, for the two elements. Ammonium and phosphate were the dominant forms of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus appearing in the culture medium during the grazing phase of the experiments. Overall, dissolved organic nitrogen and phosphorus constituted minor components of these elements released by the grazing activities of the protist. The results of this study indicated that incorporation/remineralization of nitrogen and phosphorus contained in prey was relatively unaffected by culture temperature in this heterotrophic nanoflagellate, although low temperature significantly depressed its growth rate. This finding has important implications for energy utilization and elemental cycling in perennially cold ecosystems and is at odds with conclusions that have been reached in some previous studies regarding the growth efficiency of phagotrophic Antarctic protists.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge M. Dennett for collection of the Antarctic water samples, D. Moran for isolation of the flagellate culture, and A. Thompson for assistance with the transmission electron microscope. Funding was provided by National Science Foundation grants OPP-0125437 and ANT-0528715.

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Author notes

  1. Julie M. Rose

    Present address: Biology Department, MS 32, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

  2. Neil M. Vora

    Present address: School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, S-245, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0454, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, 3616 Trousdale Parkway, AHF 301, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0371, USA

    Julie M. Rose, Neil M. Vora & David A. Caron

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  1. Julie M. Rose
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  2. Neil M. Vora
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Correspondence to Julie M. Rose.

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Rose, J.M., Vora, N.M. & Caron, D.A. Effect of Temperature and Prey Type on Nutrient Regeneration by an Antarctic Bacterivorous Protist. Microb Ecol 56, 101–111 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-007-9328-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-007-9328-9

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