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Eukaryotic picoplankton in surface oceans.

Ramon Massana1

  • 1Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Barcelona, Catalonia, E08003, Spain. ramonm@icm.csic.es

Annual Review of Microbiology
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Area of Science:

  • Marine microbial ecology
  • Protistology
  • Oceanography

Background:

  • Eukaryotic picoplankton are small protists (1-3 µm) abundant in surface oceans.
  • They include pigmented primary producers and colorless bacterivores.
  • Mixotrophy and parasitism are less understood trophic pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To understand the ecological and evolutionary significance of marine picoeukaryote diversity.
  • To assess how picoeukaryotes are organized into taxonomic units.
  • To determine their participation in marine ecosystem processes.

Main Methods:

  • Molecular surveys to reveal phylogenetic diversity.
  • Ecological assessments of abundance, biomass, and activity.
  • Trophic pathway analysis (production, bacterivory, mixotrophy, parasitism).

Main Results:

  • Picoeukaryotes exhibit large phylogenetic diversity, including novel lineages.
  • Pigmented cells are key primary producers; colorless cells are important bacterivores.
  • Picoeukaryotes play significant roles in marine food webs and nutrient cycling.

Conclusions:

  • Picoeukaryotes are integral to marine ecosystems due to their abundance, biomass, activity, and diversity.
  • They are essential for marine food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycles.
  • Further research is needed on less-investigated trophic paths like mixotrophy and parasitism.