Assistant Professor of Biology Emily Brownlee and colleagues recently had their research work titled “Mixoplankton and mixotrophy: future research priorities” accepted for publication in the Journal of Plankton Research.
Brownlee and collaborators make future research recommendations to study a community of aquatic single-celled organisms that exhibit flexible trophic strategies, called mixotrophs, which are being widely recognized as more widespread than previously thought. These organisms combine the ability for photoautotrophy (create their own food powered by sunlight) and phagotrophy (consume to acquire nutrients). A common terrestrial analog is the Venus flytrap. This paper is the result of a multi-year working group called “Mixotrophs and Mixotrophy” supported by the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Project Office funded by the National Science Foundation.
