BACKGROUND Marine ecosystems are composed of a diverse array of life forms, the
majority of which are unicellular—archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes. The power of these …

There is increasing awareness that many terrestrial and aquatic organisms are not strictly
heterotrophic or autotrophic but rather mixotrophic. Mixotrophy is an intermediate nutritional …

Many protist plankton are mixotrophs, combining phototrophy and phagotrophy. Their role in
freshwater and marine ecology has emerged as a major developing feature of plankton …

Because some algae can be grown photoautotrophically, heterotrophically, and/or
mixotrophically, they show promise for lipid production as biofuel feedstock with different …

Phago-mixotrophy, the combination of photoautotrophy and phagotrophy in mixoplankton,
organisms that can combine both trophic strategies, have gained increasing attention over …

Microbial food web organisms are at the base of the functioning of pelagic ecosystems and
support the whole marine food web. They are very reactive to environmental changes and …

Mixotrophic protists are increasingly recognized for their significant contribution to carbon
(C) cycling. As phototrophs they contribute to photosynthetic C fixation, whilst as predators of …

Lake browning—the increase in catchment-derived (allochthonous) dissolved organic
matter (DOM) to lakes—is altering lake physicochemical environments, with consequences …

Coccolithophores occupy a special position within the marine phytoplankton because of
their production of intricate calcite scales, or coccoliths. Coccolithophores are major …

Different hypotheses have been proposed explaining plankton community assembly and
how changes in biodiversity can impact ecosystem function. Mixoplankton (photo-phago …