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Morgan-Smith D, Herndl GJ, van Aken HM, Bochdansky AB
Abundance of eukaryotic microbes in the deep subtropical North Atlantic
The dark ocean is the largest habitat of the world, yet is poorly understood ecologically. In this study, microbial eukaryotes from the meso- and bathypelagic were quantified using CARD-FISH and the stains DAPI and FITC. Overall eukaryote abundance decreased sharply with depth, but one morphological type remained constant, becoming the most abundant eukaryote in deep-water samples. The phylogenetic position of this organism has not been determined. Kinetoplastids, a diverse branch of the eukaryotes which are often missed by FISH probes, comprised about 10% of eukaryotic cells at all depths.
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