寄生性甲藻阿米巴藻Amoebophrya是一类广泛寄生于纤毛虫类、放射虫类、甲藻类等海水浮游生物的原生生物,在北大西洋、北太平洋和地中海等营养盐丰富、宿主密度较高的河口和近海水环境中普遍存在,是海洋浮游食物网的重要组成部分。这类寄生性甲藻能够特异性感染海洋浮游甲藻,在有害藻华(harmful algal bloom,HAB)的发生过程中起下行控制作用,将逃脱了浮游动物摄食的浮游植物补充到微食物环(microbial loop)中去。Amoebophrya在近海海洋生态系统中的独特作用日益受到国际上越来越多研究者的关注和重视,并逐渐成为国际上海洋微型生物研究的新热点之一。近年来,已有初步调查研究表明这类寄生性甲藻在我国近海海域广泛存在;然而,目前我国尚缺乏该类寄生性甲藻的相关研究。本文系统综述了国际上该类寄生性甲藻的研究进展,针对目前研究中存在的问题并结合我国有害藻华发生机制相关研究的现状做出了分析和展望,以期推动我国该类寄生性甲藻的相关研究,为进一步阐释寄生性甲藻等海洋微型生物在有害藻华消长过程和海洋微食物环中的作用奠定基础。
Parasitic dinoflagellate Amoebophrya infects broad range hosts of ciliates, radiolarians and planktonic dinoflagellates in eutrophicated coastal water worldwidely. Particularly, Arnoebophrya can infect specific types of bloom-forming marine dinoflagellates, and effectively recycle undergrazed planktonic dinoflagellates back to the microbial loop by disrupting host cells. The parasites play a top-down control role in their host populations and represent an important aspect of marine food webs in enriched coastal environment. The ecological significance of Amoebophrya has been recognized in recent years by researchers around the world. Lately,scattered evidences indicated that this type of parasitic dinoflagelaltes is widely distributed along the coastal areas of China; however, few studies had been conducted on Arnoebophrya in China despite that fruitful research on harmful algal booms. To promote further researchs on fundemental aspects and ecological significance of the parasitic dinoflagellates in costal environ- ments of China,we reviewed the biology and ecology of Amoebophrya spp. infecting major marine dinoflagellates, with emphasis on host range, diversity, life cycle, and key aspects of the ecological roles.