Annual abundance and biomass of aloricate ciliates in tropical neritic waters off Kingston, Jamaica

Abstract

The daily abundance of aloricate ciliates at Lime Cay, Jamaica, a shallow neritic site, ranged from 29 to 118 × 10⁶ m⁻² (0.97 to 3.93 × 10⁶ m⁻³) between November 1985 and November 1986. Biomass was converted to kilojoules (1 kcal=4.1855 kJ) assuming 42% carbon, 20.15 kJ (g dry wt)⁻¹, and 20% cell shrinkage. Biomass ranged from 0.40 to 3.00 kJ m⁻² (13.3 to 100 J m⁻³; 0.28 to 2.08µg C l⁻¹) with an annual mean of 1.11 kJ m⁻² (36.8 J m⁻³; 0.764µg C l⁻¹). Nanociliates (<20µm equivalent spherical diameter, ESD) dominated abundance, but microciliates (> 20µm ESD) dominated biomass.Strombidium, Strobilidium, Tontonia andLaboea species were conspicuous taxa. Annual production estimates of the aloricate assemblage, based on literature growth rates, ranged from 404 kJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ (37 J m⁻³ d⁻¹) to 1614 kJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ (147 J m⁻³ d⁻¹). A compromise estimate of 689 kJ m⁻² yr⁻¹ (i.e., 63 J m⁻³ d⁻¹) is comparable to other estimates from tropical and subtropical regions. A model of annual energy flow through 11 planktonic compartments suggests the total ciliate assemblage (aloricates and tintinnines) to be as productive as metazoan herbivores and metazoan carnivores.