Protists are everywhere - but we lack tools to connect their taxonomic identity to what they do. Now, we provide trait data for >300 amoebozoan genera across 8 categories: nutrition, habitat, morphology, locomotion, size, spore formation, etc.
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As you see in the image above, Amoebozoa can be macroscopic, or tiny, some bear elaborate shells, others lack them. What we can learn by comparing these traits?
Amoebozoa with Cercozoa (Rhizaria) are the main soil protist taxa, which is why we compared them: We found both functional redundancy and complementarity. They share forms—naked, testate, flagellated—but differ in habitats and feeding strategies. So far, not too suprising for experts, but see this:
Our key finding: Cell size predicts feeding mode in Amoebozoa. Small cells = bacterivores. Big ones? They go after everything - bacteria, fungi, even animals. Cercozoa are selective irrespective of size, Amoebozoa more opportunistic. Size = strategy! Almost no specialized eukaryvores in Amoebozoa!
We applied the database to metatranscriptomes from soil, bark, and litter. Result? Trait profiles vary hugely by habitat. On bark, we found a spike in spore-forming and saprotrophic Amoebozoa. In soil: more pathogens.
Cercozoa communities are functionally stable across environments (at least in these traits). Amoebozoa, in contrast, show more variability - suggesting they respond more strongly to habitat differences. Big implications for understanding soil food webs.
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