Animal classes
Protozoans (Protozoa)
Protozoans are the eukaryotic unicellular microscopic organisms (size between 2 and 4500 µm). Phylogenetically, they are not animals but their own polyphyletic group of organisms. They are cosmopolitan organisms that inhabit the various sorts of habitats such as the seas, the rivers, the lakes, the soil, etc. Protozoans mostly feed on the bacteria, while some of the larger species also feed on the other protozoa or the algae. Some species are detrivores and many are parasites (Hausmann i sur. 2003).
Protozoans are the integral part of the ecosystems of the underground habitats and along with bacteria form the base of food networks in the underground (Gittelson & Hoover, 1969). They are closely related to the water because it is a medium in which they live and distribute. Protozoans adapt to the occasional food and water shortages very well by transforming themselves in the form of cyst under the unfavorable conditions and reactivating after the favorable conditions are restored (Hausmann et al. 2003). So far in the underground habitats there are recorded hundreds of species from different systematic categories (Gittelson & Hoover, 1969).
We find species that are free to move on surfaces under water column (amoeba Hartmannella vermiformis) or free water (Ciliata Colpoda cucullus), species attached to the substrate (Ciliata Vorticella Campanula), but also a typical planktonic species that float in the water column (sunshine Actinophrys salt) (Coppellotti and Guidolin, 1999). Apart from them, some types are attached to the outer surface of the cuticle of some groundwater crustaceans (Ciliata Spelaeophrya troglocaridis) or on the tube of the underground polychaete Marifugia cavatica (Ciliata Diafolliculina hadzii) (Dovgal and Vargovitsh, 2010; Matjašič, 1962). Some protozoans live as parasites of bats (parasite Trypanosoma pipistrelle) and olm, proteus anguinus (Chloromyxum protei) (Gittelson and Hoover 1969).
Protozoa in the underground habitats of the Republic of Croatia have not yet been systematically studied. Most intensively they are studied in Veternica cave where is recorded over fifty species from groups: flagellates, naked amoebae, testate amoebae, ciliates and suns (Kajtezović, 2012).
Contact:
N. Kajtezović -
Literature:
Coppellotti O., Guidolin L., 1999. Neglected microscopic organisms (Protozoa): possible bioindicators for karst groundwaters?. Atti Tavola Rotonda "Un importante sistema carsico dei Monti Lessini (Vr): i Covoli di Velo, Verona-Camposilvano, 16-17 aprile 1999., 73-78.
Dovgal I.V., Vargovitsh R.S., 2010. Troglobiontic suctorian and apostome ciliates (Ciliophora): An overview, Natura Montenegrina 9, 265-274.
Gittelson S.M., and Hoover R.L., 1969. Cavernicolous protozoa : review of the literature and new studies in Mammoth cave, Kentucky, Annales de spéléologie 24: 737-776.
Hausmann K., Hülsmann N., Radek, R., 2003. Protistology, 3rd completely revised edition, E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin - Stuttgart.
Kajtezović N., 2012. Bioraznolikost praživotinja (Protozoa) u špilji Veternica, Rektorova nagrada, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 1-46.
Matjašič J., 1962., Eine neue Hohlenfollikulinide (Euciliata, Heterotricha) aus Herzegowina, Bioloski vestnik 10, 49-53.