Parasitic chytrids: their effects on phytoplankton communities and food-web dynamics

By M. Kagami, A. Bruin, Bas Willem Ibelings, Ellen van Donk. Hydrobiologia, 2007

326 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many phytoplankton species are susceptible to fungal parasitism. Parasitic fungi of phytoplankton mainly belong to the Chytridiomycetes (chytrids). Here, we discuss the progression made in the study of chytrids that parasitize phytoplankton species. Specific fluorescent stains aid in the identification of chytrids in the field. The established culturing methods and the advances in molecular science offer good potential to gain a better insight into the mechanisms of epidemic development of chytrids and coevolution between chytrids and their algal hosts. Chytrids are often considered to be highly host-specific parasites, but the extent of host specificity has not been fully investigated. Chytrids may prefer larger host cells, since they would gain more resources, but whether hosts are really selected on the basis of size is not clear. The dynamics of chytrids epidemics in a number of studies were partly explained by environmental factors such as light, temperature, nutrients, pH, turbulence and zooplankton grazing. No generalization was made about the epidemic conditions; some state unfavorable conditions for the host growth support epidemic development, while others report epidemics even under optimal growth conditions for the host. Phytoplankton is not defenseless, and several mechanisms have been suggested, such as a hypersensitivity response, chemical defense, maintaining a high genetic diversity and multitrophic indirect defenses. Chytrids may also play an important role in food webs, because zoospores of chytrids have been found to be a good food source for zooplankton.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Ecology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0101e9b3fc293108efb022f7e3c8488575007309

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Citations in the corpus

High-Coverage ITS Primers for the DNA-Based Identification of Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes in Environmental Samples (2012, background): “1 million undescribed species [1–4] in environments such as forest soil [5,6], phyllosphere [7–9], aquatic ecosystems [10,11], and soils of the polar region [12].”
Distribution and host diversity of Amoebophryidae parasites across oligotrophic waters of the Mediterranean Sea (2010, background): “Simi- lar trophic link has been also point out in freshwater where zoospores of the parasitic fungusZygorhizidium planktonicum infect the inedible diatomAsterionella formosa, supporting the growth of the cladoceraDaphnia(Bruning, 1991; Kagami et al., 2007).”
Fifty years of marine mycology (2011, background): “Catastrophic collapse of planktonic organisms, such as unicellular algae, zooplankton, by chytrids is well documented (Walsh 1983; Tillmann et al. 1999; Kagami et al. 2007).”
Discovery of dark matter fungi in aquatic ecosystems demands a reappraisal of the phylogeny and ecology of zoosporic fungi (2016, unknown): “Environmental abiotic factors, such as temperature and nutrients, affect both density and growth of the host and parasite, and these factors influence the severity of epidemics (reviewed by Ibelings et al., 2003; Kagami et al., 2007).”
Chytrid infections and diatom spring blooms: paradoxical effects of climate warming on fungal epidemics in lakes (2011, background): “The most severe infections seem to occur in larger phytoplankton species, like Asterionella (Kagami et al., 2007).”
Genetic diversity and evolution in eukaryotic phytoplankton: revelations from population genetic studies (2017, background): “Parasitism, which commonly occurs in phytoplankton blooms (Kagami et al., 2007; Chambouvet et al., 2008), has been considered an example of NFDS (the “kill-the-winner” hypothesis, Thingstad, 2000).”
Diversity and functions of microscopic fungi: a missing component in pelagic food webs (2010, background): “2008), hence the concept of the ‘‘Mycoloop’’ (Kagami et al. 2007).”
Fungi in lake ecosystems (2010, methodology): “…communities in lakes (Sparrow 1960), and several reviews and book chapters have explained their role as parasites and their influence on algal succession (Sparrow 1960, Masters 1976, van Donk & Bruning 1992, 1995, Canter-Lund & Lund 1995, Ibelings et al. 2004, Sigee 2005, Kagami et al. 2007).”