Publication Date:
2021-02-20
Description:
An important functional trait of organisms is their trophic mode. It determines their position
within food webs, as well as their function within an ecosystem. For the better part of the
20 century, aquatic protist communities were thought to consist mainly of producers
(phytoplankton) and consumers (protozooplankton). Phytoplankton cover their energy
requirements through photosynthesis (phototrophy), while protozooplankton graze on prey
and organic particles (phagotrophy). However, over the past decades, it was shown that
another trophic group (mixoplankton) comprise a notable part of aquatic protist
communities. Mixoplankton employ a third trophic mode by combining phototrophy and
phagotrophy (mixotrophy). Due to the historical dichotomy, it is not straightforward to gain
adequate and correct information on the trophic mode of aquatic protists. Long hours of
literature research or expert knowledge are needed to correctly assign trophic modes.
Additionally, aquatic protists also have a long history of undergoing taxonomic changes
which make it difficult to compare past and present literature. While WoRMS, the World
Register of Marine Species, keeps track of the taxonomic changes and assigns each
species a unique AphiaID that can be linked to its various historic and present taxonomic
hierarchy, there is currently no machine-readable database to query aquatic protists for
their trophic modes.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
,
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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