Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

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Bogdan
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Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#1 Post by Bogdan » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:04 pm


apochronaut
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#2 Post by apochronaut » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:20 pm

Quite interesting and surprising how the very concentrated colony was able to re-consolidate very quickly after each episode of disturbance; lastly as a very well described ring. The mechanism of that behaviour, I would like to know.
By the way it became disturbed, the design of the streaming , it seems that there was some degree of surface tension involved, some bioslime which aided in re-establishing a coherent form.

Bogdan
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#3 Post by Bogdan » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:23 pm

No idea how it happens but I've seen this behavior even at very large colonies, they are forming this kind of borders over areas leaving the interior completely empty, not necessarily ring shaped.

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75RR
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#4 Post by 75RR » Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:03 pm

Great catch and video. The concentration of the bacteria reminded me of a shoal of fish.
Apparently fish shoal because there is safety in numbers - if you are on your own, you get eaten - in a group your neighbor gets eaten ... mostly.
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wporter
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#5 Post by wporter » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:49 pm

Beautiful and astounding video; well done!

The ring-shaped formations may be an artifact of the squished environment under the coverglass and the presence of predators inside the bacterial formation: since they (the bacteria) can't move in the Z direction, but only in X and Y, they can't move the globular swarm away from the little predators (the little yellow guys in the midst of the rings) in three dimensions, but can only form a ring to get away.

The swarming bacteria must be communicating rapidly somehow to effect such a fast-acting swarm. Birds & fish swarm by watching the leader(s); the bacteria must do it by getting signals from somewhere.

May or may not be pertinent:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... mmunicate/

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Glycolyse
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#6 Post by Glycolyse » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:54 pm

Also, a recent study in Biophysics showed that fishes in shoal increase the overall speed of the group (can't find the study...). Also, it was proven that shoaling was more effective in terms of decision making, compared to being alone (study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-27807-1)

Anyways, I loved the footage !

Edit: wporter was a bit quicker than me ;)

Manticore
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#7 Post by Manticore » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:55 pm

amazing video its fascinating

Bogdan
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#8 Post by Bogdan » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:20 am

Thanks a lot guys, I always thought that there must be a chemical way of communication between the bacteria similar with pheromone system in animals.
No idea if I'm right, don't really have time to look for studies abut this but I bet there are people that can answer the question.

apochronaut
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Re: Paramecium sp. feeding on bacteria

#9 Post by apochronaut » Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:29 pm

It's in the bioslime.

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