The Functional Significance of Bacterial Predators
Bruce A. Hungate, Jane C. Marks, Mary E. Power, Egbert Schwartz, Kees Jan van Groenigen, Steven J. Blazewicz, Peter F. Chuckran, Paul Dijkstra, Brianna Finley, Mary K. Firestone, Megan Foley, Alex Greenlon, Michaela Hayer, Kirsten Hofmockel, Benjamin J. Koch, Michelle C. Mack, Rebecca L. Mau, Samantha Miller, Ember M. Morrissey, Jeffrey Propster, Alicia M. Purcell, Ella T. Sieradzki, Evan Starr, Bram WG Stone, César Terrer, Jennifer Pett‐Ridge
Abstract
, increased in growth rate in response to added substrates at the base of the food chain, strong evidence of trophic control. This work provides quantitative measures of predator activity and suggests that predatory bacteria-along with protists, nematodes, and phages-are active and important in microbial food webs.