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I study zooplankton, specifically the single-celled protozoans that are responsible for most of the consumption in planktonic food webs. These organisms, which are comprised principally of a variety of flagellates and ciliates, can grow rapidly and have high metabolic rates in general. They form important links in the food web between microbial producers and multicellular organisms such as copepods and fish.
My current research projects focus on two questions related to marine protozoa: (1) What is the role of ciliates in controlling the growth of phytoplankton populations; and how do these grazers respond to species of phytoplankton that contain toxins or other compounds that serve as feeding deterrents? This project involves both laboratory cultivation of ciliates isolated from the sea and shipboard studies with natural populations. (2) How much intra- and interspecific genetic diversity is there among the ciliates? This project requires sampling and cultivation of ciliates, and aims to study diversity on scales ranging from weekly changes at a single location to global biogeography. In collaboration with colleagues at Smith College in Massachusetts, molecular tools are used to create species and community "fingerprints" of ciliates. We can then make comparisons with other species and communities in different parts of the world. For the future, I plan to use other molecular methods to study growth rates and other metabolic processes in marine protozoa. |
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Research Projects
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Diversity and biogeography of marine oligotrich and choreotrich ciliates - National Science Foundation
Carbon and Nitrogen acquisition and cycling in heterotrophic and mixotrophic ciliates - National Science Foundation
Monitoring Mesozooplankton and Microzooplankton in Long Island Sound, National Coastal Assessment - Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
Foodweb Support for the Threatened Delta Smelt and other Estuarine Species in Suisun Bay and the Western Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta - CALFED Bay-Delta Program
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Current Students
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| Barbara A. Costas - Ph.D. Student |
| Don Schoener - Ph.D. Student |
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Publications
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McManus, GB, J York, W Kimmerer. 2008. Microzooplankton dynamics in the low salinity zone of the San Francisco Estuary. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie 30:198-202.
McManus, GB, BA Costas, HG Dam, RM Lopes, SA Gaeta, S Susini, C Rosetta. 2007. Microzooplankton grazing of phytoplankton in a tropical upwelling region. Hydrobiologia 575:69-81
Costas, BA, GB McManus, M Doherty, and LA Katz. 2007. Use of species-specific primers and PCR to measure the distributions of planktonic ciliates in coastal waters. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 5:163-173
Doherty, M., Costas, B.A., McManus, G.B, and Katz L.A. 2007. Culture-independent assessment of planktonic ciliate diversity in coastal Northwest Atlantic waters. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 48:141-154.
Katz, L. A. , G. B. McManus, O. L.O. Snoeyenbos-West, A. Griffin, K. Pirog, B. Costas, W. Foissner. 2005. Reframing the "Everything is everywhere" debate: Evidence for high gene flow and diversity in ciliate morphospecies. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 41:55-65
McManus, G.B., H Zhang, and S Lin. 2004. Marine planktonic ciliates that prey on macroalgae and enslave their chloroplasts. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49: 308-313
McManus, G.B., P.M. Griffin, and J.R. Pennock. 2004. Bacterioplankton abundance and growth in a river-dominated estuary: relationships with temperature and resources. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 37:23-32
Rosetta, C.H. and G.B. McManus. 2003. Feeding by ciliates on two harmful algal bloom species, Prymnesium parvum and Prorocentrum minimum. Harmful Algae 44:1-18.
Snoeyenbos-West, O.L.O., T Salcedo, G.B. McManus, and L.A. Katz. 2002. Insights into the diversity of choreotrich and oligotrich ciliates (Cl: Spirotrichea) assessed by genealogical analyses of multiple loci. International Journal Soc. Evolutionary Micro. 52:1901-1913.
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