An Ecological Study of Brackish Water Ciliates

salt marshes offer interesting problems for investigation. Kahl (1933) has published an extensive study of the systematics and distribution of brackish-water Ciliophora, together with some observations on their physiology and mode of life. Kirby (1934) has described a few species from American salt marshes. There appears to be no previous account of British estuarine Ciliophora. A preliminary survey has been carried out on the salt marshes of the Dee estuary at Parkgate, Cheshire. The aim of the investigation was to record the ciliate species occurring and the nature of the micro-communities in which they exist; to discover how far their distribution was limited by environmental conditions; and to investigate any particular features of their physiology or behaviour which could be related to the exigencies of their environment.