Bacterivore
A bacterivore is an organism which obtains energy and nutrients primarily or entirely from the consumption of
molluscs and arthropods. Many bacterivorous organisms are adapted for generalist predation on any species of bacteria, but not all bacteria are easily digested; the spores of some species, such as Clostridium perfringens
, will never be prey because of their cellular attributes.
In microbiology
Bacterivores can sometimes be a problem in microbiology studies. For instance, when scientists seek to assess microorganisms in samples from the environment (such as freshwater), the samples are often contaminated with microscopic bacterivores, which interfere with the growing of bacteria for study. Adding cycloheximide can inhibit the growth of bacterivores without affecting some bacterial species,[1] but it has also been shown to inhibit the growth of some anaerobic prokaryotes.[2]
Examples of bacterivores
- Caenorhabditis elegans
- Ceriodaphnia quadrangula
- Diaphanosoma brachyura
- Vorticella
- Paramecium
- Paratrimastix pyriformis
- Many species of protozoa
- Many benthic meiofauna, e.g. gastrotrichs
- Springtails
- Many sponges, e.g. Aplysina aerophoba[3]
- Many crustaceans
- Many feather duster worms
- Some marine molluscs
See also
References
- S2CID 22809638.
- PMID 16347423.)
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Wehrl M, Steinert M, Hentschel U. Bacterial uptake by the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba. Microb Ecol. 2007 Feb;53(2):355-65. doi: 10.1007/s00248-006-9090-4. PMID 17265004.
- Davies, Cheryl M. et al.: Survival of Fecal Microorganisms in Marine and Freshwater Sediments, 1995, PDF