Changes in trophic structure of a freshwater protozoan community subjected to cadmium

The development of protozoan communities in laboratory microecosystems has been studied in order to observe the effect of cadmium on the trophic structure and dynamics of these communities. The effect of cadmium was evident on the species richness, density, and biomass. The most sensitive parameters seem to be biomass and species richness. In the controls, the trophic structure of the community was defined for bacterivore-detritivore, photautotroph, algivore, and in low proportion for nonselective species. In the fractions with cadmium there was a decrease in diversity in each trophic group; the bacterivore-detritivore and photosynthetic species were the most affected. Also, there was an appearance of saprotroph species. Species belonging to the control and others exclusively pertaining to microecosystems with cadmium were observed.