extraordinary species diversity and variety of interactions of protists in the sea are only now being fully appreciated. Figure 1 shows representative examples of marine protists, and of methods used to visualize these microbes. Protists can be autotrophic or heterotrophic. The former, also called microscopic algae, contain chloroplasts, thrive by photosynthesis, and are at the base of all ocea...

We present the first insight to the oceanography of the southeastern Adriatic Sea, where coastal water influenced by Albanian rivers comes into contact with the inflowing oligotrophic Eastern Adriatic Current (Ionian Surface Water and Levantine Intermediate Water). A distinct plankton distribution was observed on each side of the shelf break hydrographic boundary in May 2009, during gradual war...

Analysis of the intrinsic fluorescence profiles of individual marine algae can be used in general classification of organisms based on cell size and fluorescence properties. We describe the design and fabrication of a Microflow Cytometer on a chip for characterization of phytoplankton. The Microflow Cytometer measured distinct side scatter and fluorescence properties of Synechococcus sp., Nitzs...

The class Prasinophyceae (Chlorophyta) contains several photosynthetic picoeukaryotic species described from cultured isolates. The ecology of these organisms and their contributions to the picoeukaryotic community in aquatic ecosystems have received little consideration. We have designed and tested eight new 18S ribosomal DNA oligonucleotide probes specific for different Prasinophyceae clades,...

Oligotrophic oceanic waters of the central ocean gyres typically have extremely low dissolved fixed inorganic nitrogen concentrations, but few nitrogen-fixing microorganisms from the oceanic environment have been cultivated. Nitrogenase gene (nifH) sequences amplified directly from oceanic waters showed that the open ocean contains more diverse diazotrophic microbial populations and more divers...

Size is a crucial biological trait that determines the metabolism and energy fluxes in cells through resources requirement and acquisition, as well as the “susceptibility” of cells to environmental changes. The aim of our contribution is to do a synthesis of the relations between size – pico vs nano+microphytoplankton – and environmental forcings that have been investigated in different trophic...

Artificial neural network analysis (ANN) is used to study the seasonal distribution of viruses and microbial food web (MFW) components in open Adriatic Sea. The effect within MFW often overlooked, although play an important role community dynamics. results showed that strongest influence found nonlinear relationship between temperature. In addition, algorithm number viral populations P-limited ...