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Marine protists are defined by their habitat as protists that live in marine environments, that is, in the saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. Life originated as marine single-celled prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and later evolved into more complex eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are the more developed life forms ...
Marine microorganisms sequester large amounts of carbon and produce much of the world's oxygen. A small proportion of marine microorganisms are pathogenic, causing disease and even death in marine plants and animals.
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What is a marine protist?
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About 70 percent of the ocean’s microbes live in the dark open ocean. Here, bacteria are more likely to be efficient swimmers with tails called flagella, a necessity for avoiding hungry predators. Others cling to falling masses of dead particles, the decaying matter a perfect source of nutrients.
- Background
- Foundations of Productive Ecosystems
- Reproduction and Host Development
- Biofouling and Microbial Community Assembly
- Biogeochemical Cycling
- Examples
- Marine Holobionts
- Further References
Within the vast biological diversity that inhabits the world's oceans, it would be challenging to find a eukaryotic organism that does not live in close relationship with a microbial partner. Such symbioses, i.e., persistent interactions between host and microbe in which none of the partners gets harmed and at least one of them benefits, are ubiqui...
Ecosystem engineers, such as many types of corals, deep-sea mussels, and hydrothermal vent tubeworms, contribute to primary productivity and create the structural habitats and nutrient resources that are the foundation of their respective ecosystems. All of these taxa engage in mutualistic nutritional symbioses with microbes. There are many example...
Extending beyond nutritional symbioses, microbial symbionts can alter the reproduction, development, and growth of their hosts. Specific bacterial strains in marine biofilms often directly control the recruitment of planktonic larvae and propagules, either by inhibiting settlement or by serving as a settlement cue. For example, the settlement of zo...
Some host-associated microbes produce compounds that prevent biofouling and regulate microbiome assembly and maintenance in many marine organisms, including sponges, macroalgae, and corals. For example, tropical corals harbor diverse bacteria in their surface mucus layer that produce quorum-sensing inhibitors and other antibacterial compounds as a ...
Host-associated microbiomes also influence biogeochemical cycling within ecosystems with cascading effects on biodiversity and ecosystem processes. For example, microbial symbionts comprise up to 40% of the biomass of their sponge hosts. Through a process termed the "sponge-loop," they convert dissolved organic carbon released by reef organisms int...
The microbiomes of diverse marine animals are currently under study, from simplistic organisms including sponges and ctenophores to more complex organisms such as sea squirtsand sharks. The relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid and the bioluminescent bacterium Aliivibrio fischeriis one of the best studied symbiotic relationships in the se...
Reef-building corals are holobionts that include the coral itself (a eukaryotic invertebrate within class Anthozoa), photosynthetic dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium), and associated bacteria and viruses.Co-evolutionary patterns exist for coral microbial communities and coral phylogeny. 1. Coral holobiont 2. Seagrass holobiont 3. S...
Stal, L. J. and Cretoiu, M. S. (Eds.) (2016) The marine microbiome: an untapped source of biodiversity and biotechnological potential Springer. ISBN 9783319330006.Marine Microbiome and Biogeochemical Cycles in Marine Productive Areas. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020. ISBN 978-2-88963-276-3. OCLC 1291256407.Jun 5, 2017 · The study of marine microbial ecology has been completely transformed by molecular and genomic data: after centuries of relative neglect, genomics has revealed the surprising extent of microbial diversity and how microbial processes transform ocean and global ecosystems.
- Patrick J. Keeling, Javier del Campo
- 2017
Jan 14, 2019 · Marine unicellular eukaryotes, or protists, have a tremendous range of life styles, sizes and forms [ 1 ], showing a taxonomic and functional diversity that remains hard to define [ 2, 3 ].
Here, we review marine protists, their evolutionary histories, diversity, ecological roles, and lifestyles in all layers of the ocean, with reference to how views have shifted over time through extensive investigation. Download chapter PDF. Similar content being viewed by others. What is so Special About Marine Microorganisms?
