Ecology of Protozoa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. What is a Protozoan?

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 1-14

3. Ecological Physiology: Motility

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 15-31

4. Ecological Physiology: Feeding

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 32-52

5. Ecological Physiology: Bioenergetics

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 53-62

6. Ecological Physiology: Other Aspects

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 63-75

7. Symbiosis

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 76-85

8. The Niches of Protozoa

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 86-101

9. Protozoan Communities: Marine Habitats

   • Tom Fenchel

   Pages 102-133

10. Protozoan Communities: Freshwater Habitats

    • Tom Fenchel

    Pages 134-151

11. Protozoan Communities: Terrestrial Habitats

    • Tom Fenchel

    Pages 152-160

12. Symbiotic Protozoa

    • Tom Fenchel

    Pages 161-166

13. Concluding Remarks

    • Tom Fenchel

    Pages 167-169

14. Back Matter

    Pages 171-197

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This book is written for ecologists and protozoologists. Ecologists who study environments and biotic communities in which protozoa are im­ portant should find this book especially useful. During the last decade it has become clear that protozoa play important roles in natural eco­ systems, but few ecologists have a feeling for the functional properties and the diversity of these organisms. Protozoa pose or exemplify many general problems of population and community ecology, and of evo­ lutionary biology. In most respects the general ecological properties of protozoa are not fundamentally different from those of larger organisms; yet, due to their small size, short generation times, and ubiquitous oc­ currence they often present ecological phenomena in a new and dif­ ferent light. To this should be added that protozoa are well-suited for experimental work. Despite these advantages, the study of protozoa has played a relatively modest role in the development of ecology and ev­ olutionary biology, primarily, I believe, because most ecologists are unfamiliar with these organisms. I hope this book will attract more attention to these favorable characteristics of protozoa. I also hope that this book may make protozoologists aware of new aspects of their pet organisms. For a long time (that is, until the fun­ damental distinction between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells was rec­ ognized) protozoa were believed to represent the simplest form of life. They were therefore extensively used for the experimental study of basic questions of cell biology.

• Protozoa
• biology
• ecology
• environment

• Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

  Tom Fenchel

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