Cannibalism and giant formation in Stylonychia

Giese, Arthur C.; Alden, Roland H.

doi:10.1002/jez.1400780202

Cited by 35 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Large size is often associated with predation and cannibalism in ciliates (Giese, 1938;Giese & Alden, 1938;Dawson, 1919). Some organisms, for example, Blepharisma, Stylonychia and Oxytricha, appear to get progressively larger with an increase in size of prey (Giese, 1938;Padmavathi, 1961). This was not the case with Polyplastron.…”

Section: J M E a D I Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Studies on the Ecology of Certain Rumen Ciliate Protozoa

Eadie¹

1967

Journal of General Microbiology

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S U M M A R YThe times taken by Op/zryoscde.u tricovonatus and species of the genus Ej7idinium to establish in the rumens of young animals were found to differ from those of other rumen ciliate species. The antagonistic relationships between certain rumen ciliates were examined in vivo and concurrent experiments were made in small vessels termed vivars which were suspended within the rumen of a sheep. A Millipore membrane separated the rumen contents from the contents of the vivars. Within these vessels it was possible to reproduce population changes first observed in viiw and to determine with certainty that in a population change where Po/yp/astron ~u l t i v e s i c u l~t z~~n became irreversibly dominant this had been caused by predation by Polyplastron. This organism will eliminate Epidinium, Eudiplodiniunt nzaggii, Eremoplastron and Ostracodinium from ;I population. The cause, factors affecting it and the ultimate effect on the population are discussed. It was not possible to cause a reversal of the population writhin a vivar suspended in sheep, but since the prey of Polyplastron still existed and since the reverse change was seen to occur in cattle, this problem still remains unsolved. There was also some evidence of antagonism bet ween Epidinium and Ophryoscolex. I N 1 R O l > U C T J O NPrevious studies have shown that when mixtures of rumen ciliate populations from different animals are introduced into the rumens of ciliate-free sheep or cattle certain species often become dominant (Eadie, 1962h). The present work extends these observations and in particular is concerned with the relation between Polyplastron multivesiculatun~ (Dogiel & Federowa) and other rumen ciliates. Investigations have also been made, incidental to the above studies, of the time taken to establish Op/lyrOscolex tricovonatus (Dogiel) in ruminants o f different species, extending previous work on the establishment of rumen ciliate populations (Eadie, 1962 a).The problems were investigated by the use of inoculations of chosen ciliate populations to lambs, kids and a calf; an in vivo method previously discussed by Eadie ( I 962 a, b). In addition a modification of the ' vivar ' technique described by Fina et al. (1962), when used in sheep, proved to be extremely useful. As discussed earlier (Eadie, I 962 b) certain changes of protozoal population in lambs were irreversible, but with the aid of vivar chambers, stages of population changes could be repeatedly observed and could be compared with those seen in the animal.

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Section: J M E a D I Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Studies on the Ecology of Certain Rumen Ciliate Protozoa

Eadie¹

1967

Journal of General Microbiology

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“…Indeed, cultures of the various morphs can be maintained for months (M. Kopp, personal observation). Continuous polyphenisms similar to that of Lembadion have been reported from Onychodromus indica (Kamra and Sapra 1994), Stylonychia mytilus (Giese and Alden 1938), Blepharisma americanum (Giese 1973), and Didinium nasutum (Hewett 1980).…”

Section: A Prey-induced Continuous Size Polyphenismmentioning

confidence: 56%

Trophic Size Polyphenism in Lembadion Bullinum: Costs and Benefits of an Inducible Offense

Kopp

Tollrian

2003

Ecology

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Trophic polyphenisms are examples of phenotypic plasticity where two or more morphs within a species exploit different food niches. In this context, induced traits that enhance feeding ability on certain prey types have been termed inducible offenses. Here, we describe a prey‐induced continuous size polyphenism in the predatory ciliate Lembadion bullinum. Further to previous reports of “giant cannibals” in this species, we show that Lembadion is able to gradually adjust its size to the size of its prey. Large size acts as an inducible offense, since large morphs have an increased gape‐size and can exploit a wider food range than small morphs. Despite these benefits, large morphs reduce their size whenever small prey is available. This suggests that their fitness is governed by a trade‐off. We experimentally demonstrate this trade‐off by showing that, when offered small prey, large morphs achieve lower volume‐specific feeding rates and lower maximal population growth rates than small morphs. Both results highlight that large morphs suffer demographic costs that make them inferior in small‐prey environments. Consequently, inducible predator offenses may evolve as adaptations to situations where important prey characteristics vary with space or time. Corresponding Editor: S. Nylin

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“…Other ciliates are already known to behave as occasional predators of conspecific and/or heterospecific organisms producing giants: Stylonychia (Giese & Alden, 1938), Blepharisma (Giese, 1938;Nilsson, 1967), Tetrahymena (Williams, 1961), Euplotes (Tuffrau, 1964). The exact role played by these differentiated forms in the adaptive biology of the respective species has not been investigated specifically.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%