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Group 2
<html><font size=6 face=“Arial”>Mycoloop: tasty parasites</font></html>
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Introduction
Trophic interactions between phytoplankton (primary producers) and zooplankton (consumers) govern the flow of energy in marine systems. Cyanobacteria are abundant marine primary producers, and display resistance to grazing by zooplankton because of their filamentous morphologies, production of toxins and low nutritional value. However, cyanobacteria can be infected and killed by parasitic fungi (chytrids). These parasitic fungi, in turn, have a free-living zoosporic stage that is highly nutritional and an important food source for zooplankton. Thus, parasitic fungi create a trophic link between cyanobateria and zooplankton termed the “mycoloop”.
Additionally, when cyanobacteria are infected by the parasitic fungi, their morphology and nutritional value change and, consequently, they become more edible to zooplankton such as Daphnia. (to be continued)
Assignment
Propose and analyse a mathematical model that describes the trophic dynamics among cyanobacteria (primary producer/host), chytrids (parasite/prey) and zooplankton (grazer/predator).
Questions & Suggestions
(1) Under what conditions can cyanobacteria, chytrids and zooplankton coexist?
(2) Under what conditions do cyanobacteria blooms form?
References
R. Agha, M. Saebelfeld, C. Manthey, T. Rohrlack and J. Wolinska. (2016) Chytrid parasitism facilitates trophic transfer between bloom-forming cyanobacteria and zooplankton (Daphnia). Scientific Reports 6:35039 DOI: 10.1038/srep35039.