Taxonomic composition and biomass of heterotrophic flagellates in relation to lake trophy and season

Abstract

1. Taxonomic composition and abundance of heterotrophic flagellates (HF) were studied in 55 lakes with different trophy in northern Germany using a live‐counting technique. 2. Mean abundances and biomasses of HF ranged from 169 cells L−1 and 22 μg L−1 in mesotrophic lakes to 2439 cells mL–1 and 475 μg L−1 in hypertrophic lakes, respectively. Highest values were generally observed in spring, but mesotrophic lakes showed maximum values in early summer. 3. The taxonomic composition of HF was not significantly influenced by lake trophy and season. The major fraction of HF consisted of chrysomonads and Protista incertae sedis; other important groups were choanoflagellates and bicosoecids. The size distribution of HF changed with lake trophy and season, with a higher proportion of large HF (> 10 μm) in hypertrophic lakes and in spring, respectively. 4. Correlation analyses revealed a strong negative impact of cladocerans on total HF biomass and especially on large HF. Ciliates and large bacteria (> 10 μm) were strongly positively correlated with HF biomass; small bacteria (< 2 μm) showed a weak positive correlation. 5. Analyses at the level of species and genera revealed distinct distribution patterns of some taxa. Paraphysomonas, Aulacomonas and Quadricilia as large‐bodied HF showed highest abundance in hypertrophic lakes and in spring. Attached taxa (e.g. Monosiga, Salpingoeca amphoridium) were highly abundant in late summer and autumn, whereas Spumella and Kathablepharis occurred frequently in most samples.

Multigene phylogenies of clonal Spumella-like strains, a cryptic heterotrophic nanoflagellate, isolated from different geographical regions

“…(Auer & Arndt, 2001;Cleven & Weisse, 2001;Weitere & Arndt, 2003). These organisms account for a substantial proportion of the heterotrophic nanoflagellate (HNF) biomass, especially in freshwater systems (Domaizon et al, 2003;Felip et al, 1999;Zhao et al, 2003), and play a major role in microbial ecology as Abbreviations: ED, evolutionary distance; ITS, internal transcribed spacer; ML, maximum likelihood; PP, posterior probability; SSU, small subunit.…”

How pollen organic matter enters freshwater food webs

“…Inputs to lakes and streams tend to be much larger than their reciprocal flows to adjacent terrestrial ecosystems because of the position of lakes and streams at concave locations in the landscape and because they are linked through watersheds by the downhill flow of water (Polis et al 1997). Terrestrial inputs to aquatic systems can occur under the form of a rather continuous flow of detrital dissolved organic matter (DOM; Berggren et al 2010) or through more seasonal inputs of particulate organic matter, such as leaf litter (Richardson 1991), pollen rains (Banks and Nighswander 2000), or accidental inputs of terrestrial invertebrates (Nakano and Murakami 2001). For lakes, influx of terrestrial DOM usually dominates other sources in terms of mass balance.…”

Heterotrophic flagellates in the primary lakes and hollow-pools of mires in the European North of Russia

“…Europe (Vørs, 1992;Auer and Arndt, 2001;Mylnikov and Kosolapova, 2004), Asia , Australia (Lee et al, 2005). **Incertae sedis Cercozoa Microcometes paludosa Cienkowsky, 1876 (Fig.…”

“…Europe (Vørs, 1992;Auer and Arndt, 2001;Auer et al, 2003;Mylnikov and Kosolapova, 2004;Prokina and Mylnikov, 2017, Asia (Lee, 2002;Kopylov et al, 2006;Tikhonenkov et al, 2012), Africa (Tikhonenkov, 2009;Prokina et al, 2017c), Australia Lee and Patterson, 2000;, South America ).…”

“…Europe (Vørs, 1992;Auer and Arndt, 2001;Mylnikov and Kosolapova, 2004;Prokina and Mylnikov, 2017;Prokina et al, 2017aProkina et al, , 2017b, Asia , Africa , Australia .…”