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A study of reproduction and other life cycle phenomena in planktonic protists using an acridine orange fluorescence technique

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Abstract

The percentage of dividing individuals and temporal reproductive patterns were determined for natural populations of several planktonic protists including five species of tintinnids, a dinoflagellate, and a diatom. To obtain these data, a method was used in which the nuclei of planktonic ciliates and phytoplankters can be fluorescently stained with acridine orange at the time of collection and fixation. The technique is simple and can be used routinely in studies of reproduction or other life cycle phenomena of natural protistan populations. For the tintinnids, often more than half of the individuals were in some recognizable stage of fission; periodicity in the division process was only observed once and apparently followed a pulse of conjugation in the population. With the diatom Ditylum brightwellii the fluorescent staining technique yielded data on the extent and timing of division which were consistent with, but more complete than, previous enumerations of paired cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chesapeake Bay Institute, The Johns Hopkins University, 20764, Shady Side, Maryland, USA

    D. W. Coats & J. F. Heinbokel

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  1. D. W. Coats
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  2. J. F. Heinbokel
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Communicated by S. K. Pierce, College Park

The support of the National Science Foundation (OCE-7819566) is acknowledged

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Coats, D.W., Heinbokel, J.F. A study of reproduction and other life cycle phenomena in planktonic protists using an acridine orange fluorescence technique. Mar. Biol. 67, 71–79 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397096

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397096

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