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Particulate and Dissolved Organic Matter as Food
Published in Roger S. Wotton, The Biology of Particles in Aquatic Systems, 2020
In addition to the direct ingestion of bacteria, particle feeders can also feed on bacterivorous protozoans, and “positive interactions among metazoans and protozoans occur in many pelagic and benthic microbial communities”.197 The microbial loop refers to the pathway by which dissolved organic matter is taken up by bacteria, which can be fed upon by bacterivorous protozoans of about the same size as the phytoplankton used as food by zooplankton.198 The protozoans will thus be ingested with the phytoplankton when no qualitative selection mechanism operates. The loop therefore exists in parallel with the conventional trophic pathway where zooplankton feed directly on algae, and if efficient, it will serve to decrease the wastage of energy between the producer and consumer trophic levels (see Figure 1).
Influences and impacts of biofouling in SWRO desalination plants
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2021
Tamar Jamieson, Sophie C. Leterme
Within pelagic ecosystems, key processes such as flux, cycling, and sedimentation of elements and energy have been extensively studied over the years. Rich in populations, these plankton organisms consist of bacteria, archaea, algae, protozoa, and multicellular zooplankton (Hays et al., 2005). Most oceanic pelagic systems are nutrient poor, stratified systems in which picoplankton are the dominant component of the planktonic biomass (Berglund et al., 2007). Prokaryotes make up a major component of the picoplankton biomass in marine environments and are an integral component of the microbial food web (Kiørboe et al., 1990; Sherr & Sherr, 1988; Sommer et al., 2002). This microbial loop is an essential link between dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the higher trophic levels and is made available when metabolized by bacteria. Therefore, the role of microbes within the pelagic region is to regulate the energy flow through the foodweb, thereby, limiting the export of biomass toward the benthos.