The role of foraminifera in the trophic structure of marine communities

TLDR: Foraminifera are recorded as feeding chiefly upon bacteria, small diatoms, and nannoplankton in a wide variety of marine environments, and form part of a key link in marine food chains, assimilating energy available from minute autotrophs and also retrieving energy available during the final stages of degradation of organic debris.

Abstract: Foraminifera are recorded as feeding chiefly upon bacteria, small diatoms, and nannoplankton in a wide variety of marine environments. Thus their food items are usually below 50 μ and commonly below 25 μ in size. Predators upon Foraminifera range from highly specialized microcarnivores that feed largely on Foraminifera to less selective ones that include Foraminifera in a mixed diet and to generalized feeders that ingest Foraminifera along with much other material. Foraminifera thus form part of a key link in marine food chains, assimilating energy available from minute autotrophs and also retrieving energy available during the final stages of degradation of organic debris. In turn, they support a variety of larger organisms and thus contribute to the diversity and secondary productivity of ecosystems.