Hi all,
I'll need to look it up, but I think that you get aggregations of long stalked ciliate protists as the nutrient supply falls. You get a temporal progression of micro-organisms in sewage treatment as the nutrient level falls, so you can get a measure of BOD from the invertebrate assemblage. I think if you get aggregations of these with long stalks, Rotifers and Tardigrades that the water quality has improved and the "water" can go for final treatment before discharge.
cheers Darrel
I think they eat bacteria.catches something even smaller i can not see with this magnification.
Yes I think it does. In Dawkin's book <"The Ancestor 's Tale"> it talks about the similarity between the protist <"Choanoflagellates and the feeding cells of sponges">.The way they group together perhaps gives some insight in to the origins of multicellularity.
I'll need to look it up, but I think that you get aggregations of long stalked ciliate protists as the nutrient supply falls. You get a temporal progression of micro-organisms in sewage treatment as the nutrient level falls, so you can get a measure of BOD from the invertebrate assemblage. I think if you get aggregations of these with long stalks, Rotifers and Tardigrades that the water quality has improved and the "water" can go for final treatment before discharge.
cheers Darrel