(1) Laboratory of Protozoology, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China;(2) Zoology Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abstract:
Introduction
Ciliated protozoa play important roles in aquatic ecosystems especially regarding their functions in micro-food web and have many advantages in environmental assessment compared with most other eukaryotic organisms. The aims of this study were focused on analyzing the application of an indicator based on taxonomic relatedness of ciliated protozoan assemblages for marine environmental assessment.