Small, aloricate ciliates with equivalent spherical cell diameters ~20 km (biovolume <4,000 pm3) compose, on average, 4-57% of the total biomass of heterotrophic (apochlorotic) nanoplankton in diverse marine systems. Biomass production of nanoplanktonic ciliates in a southeastern U.S. estuary was also a significant part of the total production of heterotrophic microprotozoa. During summer in a ...

The geographical distribution and seasonal abundance of the cosmopolitan heterotrophic flagellate Paraphysomonas imperforata in several coastal waters was examined using species-specific oligonucleotide hybridization probes which target small subunit ribosomal RNA. P. imperforata was found to occur in several coastal environments, but at very low abundances (typically ,50 cells ml21). The seaso...

This study presents the response of autotrophic pico- and nanoplankton to southwest monsoon-associated hydrographical transformations in the Cochin backwaters (CBW), the largest monsoonal estuary along the west coast of India. By the onset of the southwest monsoon, the euhaline/mesohaline conditions in the downstream/upstream of CBW usually transform into oligohaline/limnohaline. The flow cytom...

Pico and nanoplankton communities from the Southwest Atlantic Ocean along the Brazilian Bight are poorly described. The hydrography in this region is dominated by a complex system of layered water masses, which includes the warm and oligotrophic Tropical Water (TW), the cold and nutrient rich South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) and the Coastal Water (CW), which have highly variable properties. ...

Abstract Anthropogenic perturbations and climate change are severely threatening habitats of the global ocean, especially in Arctic region, which is affected faster than any other ecosystem. Despite its importance prevailing threats, knowledge on changes micro- nanoplanktonic diversity still highly limited. Here, we look back almost two decades (May 1–26, 2002) order to expand limited but neces...