Evidence for a tightly coupled nanoplanktonic predator-prey link regulating the bacterivores in the marine environment
- 1 January 1988
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Inter-Research Science Center in Marine Ecology Progress Series
- Vol. 50 (1-2) , 137-145
- https://doi.org/10.3354/meps050137
Abstract
A coupled predator-prey chain, starting with bacterivores, was investigated using the minicell recapture technique (MiniCap). Water samples were subjected to size fractionation with decreasing filter pore size, in order to obtain a successive truncation of the microbial food chain. Our results showed that the major bacterivores were flagellates in the size range of 1 to 3 .mu.m. The truncation of the food chain caused increased or decreased predation on the bacteria, depending on whether the bacterivores were released from or subjected to increased predation pressure. We present a model describing trophic interactions between organisms less than 12 .mu.m in size. This model suggests 4 trophic levels to form a regulatory chain, exerting a tight control on major bacterivores.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
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