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Some physiological aspects of the autecology of the suspension-feeding protozoanTetrahymena pyriformis

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Abstract

Feeding, growth, and reproductive responses of the suspension-feeding protozoanTetrahymena pyriformis to shifts up or down of the density of its bacterial food were observed. The rates of feeding, growth, and reproduction were determined by measuring the rates of uptake of viable bacterial cells, of change of mean volume of the protozoan cells, and of change of number of protozoan cells, respectively. The effects of the nutritional status of the protozoans at the time of shifting were observed also. Results are interpreted in terms of the limited polymorphism exhibited in the life cycle of this organism. Responses in all cases seem to reflect a strategy for exploiting a patchy, transient environment, a conclusion already reached by several earlier investigators.

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Author notes

  1. Steven T. Swift

    Present address: Exxon Research and Engineering Corporation, 07036, Linden, New Jersey

  2. Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi

    Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 O-Okayama, Meguro-Ku, 152, Tokyo, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 55455, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Steven T. Swift, Irene Y. Najita, Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi & A. G. Fredrickson

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  1. Steven T. Swift
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  2. Irene Y. Najita
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  3. Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi
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  4. A. G. Fredrickson
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Swift, S.T., Najita, I.Y., Ohtaguchi, K. et al. Some physiological aspects of the autecology of the suspension-feeding protozoanTetrahymena pyriformis . Microb Ecol 8, 201–215 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02011425

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