Table 1 Physiological adaptations of Foraminifera and Ostracoda in marine and freshwater
environments (see text)
Marine
Freshwater
Adaptation
Foraminifera
Ostracoda
Foraminifera
Ostracoda
Feeding
strategy
Predators,
scavengers, filterfeeders,
herbivorous,
omnivorous,
detritivorous,
DOC feeding,
symbiotic,
parasitic
1
)
Predators,
scavengers,
filter-feeders,
omnivorous,
detritivorous,
symbiotic,
parasitic
2
)
Herbivorous
3
),
others?
Omnivorous,
detritivorous,
filter-feeders
4
)
Osmoregulation ≈25-35 ‰,
retarded growth
and inhibited
reproduction in
lower and higher
salinity; isotonic
with ambient sea
water
5
)
Tolerant,
depending on
species range
up to 0-70 ‰;
isotonic with
ambient sea
water
6
)
0-? ‰;
contractile
vacuoles for
osmoregulation3)
0-8‰; ‘cap-like
structures’ (salt
glands) for
osmoregulation
6
)
Reproductive
strategy
Alteration of
sexual and
asexual
generations,
budding,
fragmentation
1
)
Almost
exclusively
sexual
reproduction,
brood care
7
)
Asexual
reproduction,
binary fission
8
),
others?
Sexual, asexual
and mixed
reproduction,
brood care
4
,
7
)
Calcification
The higher
salinity the more
calcified test
9
)
The higher
salinity the
more calcified
valves
10
)
Almost
exclusively
agglutinated,
organic-shelled
or naked
species
3
,
8
,
11
)
Thin, less
calcified and
poorly
ornamented
carapace
4
,
12
)
Other
adaptations
Resting stages,
diapause, nitrate
respiring in
anoxic
environment
13
)
Resting
stages
14
)
Resting stages,
diapause
8
)
Resting stages,
resistance to
desiccation,
diapause
4
)
1: Goldstein 2003
2: Vannier et al. 1998
3: Holzmann and Pawlowski 2002
4: Meisch 2000
5: Murray 1963
6: Aladin and Potts 1996
7: Martens 1998
8: Meisterfeld et al. 2001
9: Dueñas-Bohórquez et al. 2009
10: Chivas et al. 1986
11: Sen Gupta 2003
12: Keyser and Walter 2004
13: Kuhnt et al. 2013
14: Vannier and Abe 1992
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