The Role Of Eukaryotes in the Anaerobic Food Web of Stratified Lakes

The importance of anaerobic free-living phagotrophic protists has gained renewed attention following the discovery of an unexpectedly high diversity in anoxic aquatic habitats. Here I attempt to illustrate the physiology and trophic role of phagotrophic protists in anoxic compartments of chemically stratified lakes. The long-standing notion of the low productivity of anaerobic food webs is partly disputed, and the possibility of aerobic metazoans that are able to withstand anoxia acting as a trophic link between anaerobic primary production and the aerobic food web of metazoans is briefly covered.