Food Webs

Ciliates are important elements of the trophic networks of aquatic and terrestrial environments, they can be primary producers (myxotrophs), consumers of bacteria, algae, flagellates, even other ciliates and can serve as food for metazoans, for all the above they are the link between different levels of food webs. The structure of the ciliates varies according to the seasons of the year and depending on the trophic conditions of the aquatic systems. Ciliated communities have modifications and adaptations in response to environmental perturbations. The objective of this chapter is to describe the importance of different trophic groups of ciliates in different ecosystems, including anthropogenic perturbations and their impact on trophic webs.

The climate impact of municipal land policy

<p>Ecosystems can store significant amounts of carbon dioxide and are therefore often considered as nature-based solutions to combat climate change. However, anthropogenic perturbations can turn these natural sinks to substantial sources for greenhouse gases. The climate impact of land use and land use change is well recognized on national and international level. Yet, municipalities which implement concrete measures on the ground, lack a tool to quantify the climate effect of their land use decisions.</p><p>Using the German city of Rostock (200.000 inhabitants) as an example, we present an approach to evaluate the climate effect of different land use trajectories in urban areas. The approach makes uses of municipal land use maps and complies with the IPCC inventory guidelines. Based on this emission assessment we can provide generic recommendations to exploit nature-based solutions for climate protection in municipal land policy.</p>