Is there a word for a crowd of ciliates? Like a flock of birds or a pod of whales etc. Maybe a shoal like fish?
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Anyway, here's a shoal of ciliated protists feeding on bacteria and the decaying remains of a copepod. It's one of the most essential processes on earth, and it's called the microbial-loop.
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Organic matter like dead stuff, poop and algal exudates forms a vital food source for bacteria called DOC or dissolved organic carbon. Instead of being lost from the food web, a portion of DOC is recycled by bacteria which use it to build more cells. Bacteria reach insane numbers in water (>million cells.ml) and are an important food source to ciliates like these. Since they in turn are eaten by macrozooplankton, the DOC originally recycled and incorporated by bacteria is transferred back into the traditional food web.
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Amazing!
.
The Microbial loop
A ‘school’ of Tetrahymenids thanks @jam_and_germs for the ID
Viewed at 400x
Original sounds by the polymath @law_hoare and his secret projects division.
It was gonna be ‘we run the world’ by Beyoncé.
@canonuk x Recheirt
20.02.22
.
Anyway, here's a shoal of ciliated protists feeding on bacteria and the decaying remains of a copepod. It's one of the most essential processes on earth, and it's called the microbial-loop.
.
Organic matter like dead stuff, poop and algal exudates forms a vital food source for bacteria called DOC or dissolved organic carbon. Instead of being lost from the food web, a portion of DOC is recycled by bacteria which use it to build more cells. Bacteria reach insane numbers in water (>million cells.ml) and are an important food source to ciliates like these. Since they in turn are eaten by macrozooplankton, the DOC originally recycled and incorporated by bacteria is transferred back into the traditional food web.
.
Amazing!
.
The Microbial loop
A ‘school’ of Tetrahymenids thanks @jam_and_germs for the ID
Viewed at 400x
Original sounds by the polymath @law_hoare and his secret projects division.
It was gonna be ‘we run the world’ by Beyoncé.
@canonuk x Recheirt
20.02.22
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