Protozoan Diversity and Biogeography

David J Patterson, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001926

Over 100 000 protozoa have been named. Many are associated with particular types of habitats and there is a growing view that many protozoa can be found in those habitats anywhere in the world.

Keywords: protozoa; protista; biogeography

Figure 1. Numbers of species of organisms plotted against size – adapted from May 1988. The scale is the log of the numerical values. The dotted line projects the relationship that appears to exist for the larger organisms to the microorganisms.
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 References
    Corliss JO (1982) Numbers of species comprising the phyletic groups assignable to the kingdom protista. Journal of Protozoology 29: 499.
    May RM (1988) How many species are there on Earth? Science 241: 1441–1449.
 Further Reading
    Adlard RD and O'Donoghue PJ (1998) Perspectives on the biodiversity of parasitic protozoa in Australia. Australian Biologist 11: 121–132.
    book Allsopp D, Colwell RR, Hawksworth DL (eds) (1995) Microbial Diversity and Ecosystem Function. Oxford: CAB International.
    book Berninger U-G, Caron DA, Sanders RW and Finlay BJ (1991) "Heterotrophic flagellates of planktonic communities, their characteristics and methods of study". In: Patterson DJ and Larsen J (eds) The Biology of Free Living Heterotrophic Flagellates, special vol. 45, pp. 39–56, Oxford: Clarendon.
    book Fenchel T (1987) The Ecology of Protozoa. Madison, WI: Science Tech.
    Finlay BJ (1998) The global diversity of protozoa and other small species. International Journal of Parasitology 28: 29–48.
    Lee WJ and Patterson DJ (1998) Diversity and geographic distribution of free-living heterotrophic flagellates – analysis by PRIMER. Protist 149: 229–243.
    book Patterson DJ (1994) "Protozoa, evolution and systematics". In: Hausmann K and Hülsmann N (eds) Progress in Protozoology, Proceedings of the IX International Congress of Protozoology, pp. 1–14. Stuttgart, Germany: Gustav Fischer.
    Patterson DJ (1999) The diversity of eukaryotes. American Naturalist 154: S96–S124.
    book Patterson DJ and Larsen J (eds) (1991) The Biology of Free-living Heterotrophic Flagellates. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
    Tyler PA (1996) Endemism in freshwater algae. Hydrobiologia 336: 127–135.

Related Sub-Topics:

Diversity of Life | Evolution of Species | Biogeography and Macroecology | Biodiversity | Environmental Microbiology | Protozoa
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Article Title: Protozoan Diversity and Biogeography
 
How to Cite close
Patterson, David J(Apr 2001) Protozoan Diversity and Biogeography. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001926]