Protistan communities of the the Great Barrier Reef

Studies conducted at the Heron Island Research Station, located on the Capricorn region of the Great Barrier Reef, characterized complex protistan communities. Heron Reef is home to around 72 percent of the coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef. The paper will emphasize the diversity of ciliates found in benthic and epiphytic samples and will focus on the interactive role of the protistan component of the reef, including ciliates implicated in coral diseases that occur following bleaching episodes. Samples were taken by direct capture, observed with phase contrast and epifluorescent microscopy, and recorded by video and photomicrographic methods.