ABSTRACT
Measuring the sources and rates of predation on planktonic protists is of interest from a number of perspectives. The need for new methods to study predation on planktonic ciliates arises because many ciliates are quite fragile and lack recognizable hard parts. The advantages of this immunochemical method include: in situ predation on ciliates can be measured and there is no need to collect, concentrate, incubate, or preserve ciliates, any of which can result in cell lysis and lead to experimental artifacts. It also includes immunochemical probes can be developed with different levels of specificity, depending on the question being addressed and individual predators can be probed, rather than relying on ensemble measures of ingestion. Several different immunization protocols and mammalian hosts can be used for antibody production. The need for new methods to study predation on planktonic ciliates arises because many ciliates are quite fragile and lack recognizable hard parts.
