Mixotrophs are important components of the bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, microzooplankton, and (sometimes) zooplankton in coastal and oceanic waters. Bacterivory among the phytoplankton may be important for alleviating inorganic nutrient stress and may increase primary production in oligotrophic waters. Mixotrophic phytoflagellates and dinoflagellates are often dominant components of the plankton during seasonal stratification. Many of the microzooplankton grazers, including ciliates and Rhizaria, are mixotrophic owing to their retention of functional algal organelles or maintenance of algal endosymbionts. Phototrophy among the microzooplankton may increase gross growth efficiency and carbon transfer through the microzooplankton to higher trophic levels. Characteristic assemblages of mixotrophs are associated with warm, temperate, and cold seas and with stratification, fronts, and upwelling zones. Modeling has indicated that mixotrophy has a profound impact on marine planktonic ecosystems and may enhance primary production, biomass transfer to higher trophic levels, and the functioning of the biological carbon pump.

Protist plankton are major members of open‐water marine food webs. Traditionally divided between phototrophic phytoplankton and phagotrophic zooplankton, recent research shows many actually combine phototrophy and phagotrophy in the one cell; these protists are the “mixoplankton.” Under the mixoplankton paradigm, “phytoplankton” are incapable of phagotrophy (diatoms being exemplars), while “zooplankton” are incapable of phototrophy. This revision restructures marine food webs, from regional to global levels. Here, we present the first comprehensive database of marine mixoplankton, bringing together extant knowledge of the identity, allometry, physiology, and trophic interactivity of these organisms. This mixoplankton database (MDB) will aid researchers that confront difficulties in characterizing life traits of protist plankton, and it will benefit modelers needing to better appreciate ecology of these organisms with their complex functional and allometric predator–prey interactions. The MDB also identifies knowledge gaps, including the need to better understand, for different mixoplankton functional types, sources of nutrition (use of nitrate, prey types, and nutritional states), and to obtain vital rates (e.g. growth, photosynthesis, ingestion, factors affecting photo’ vs. phago’ ‐trophy). It is now possible to revisit and re‐classify protistan “phytoplankton” and “zooplankton” in extant databases of plankton life forms so as to clarify their roles in marine ecosystems.

Polar marine ecosystems are characterized by low water temperatures, sea ice cover, and extreme annual variation in solar irradiance and primary productivity. A review of the available information from the Arctic suggests that mixotrophy (i.e., the combination of photosynthetic and phagotrophic modes of nutrition in one cell) is wide spread among plankton. In the central Arctic Ocean (AO) in summer, mixotrophic flagellates such as Micromonas and Dinobryon can account for much of bacterivory. Planktonic ciliates with acquired phototrophy form the bulk of microzooplankton biomass in both the ultra-oligotrophic deep basins of AO and its productive shelf seas. With the exception of the diatom bloom in the marginal ice zone, mixotrophic ciliates often dominate total chlorophyll in the mixed layer in summer taking advantage of the 24-h insolation. Their relatively high growth rates at low temperatures indicate that they are an important component of primary and secondary production. The key Arctic copepod species preferentially feed on chloroplast-bearing ciliates, which form an important link in the planktonic food web. The limited available year round data indicate that mixotrophic plankton persist in the water column during the long polar winter when irradiance is low or absent and ice cover further reduces light penetration. These observations suggest that at high latitudes an alternative food web based on mixotrophy may dominate the pelagic lower food web during much of the year.

Allelopathy is wide spread among marine phytoplankton, including diatoms, which can produce cytotoxic secondary metabolites such as polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUA). Most studies on diatom-produced PUA have been dedicated to their inhibitory effects on reproduction and development of marine invertebrates. However, little information exists on their impact on key herbivores in the ocean, microzooplankton. This study examined the effects of dissolved 2E,4E-octadienal and 2E,4E-heptadienal on the growth rates of natural ciliate and dinoflagellate populations in the Chesapeake Bay and the coastal Atlantic waters. The overall effect of PUA on microzooplankton growth was negative, especially at the higher concentrations, but there were pronounced differences in response among common planktonic species. For example, the growth of Codonella sp., Leegaardiella sol, Prorodon sp., and Gyrodinium spirale was impaired at 2 nM, whereas Strombidium conicum, Cyclotrichium gigas, and Gymnodinium sp. were not affected even at 20 nM. These results indicate that PUA can induce changes in microzooplankton dynamics and species composition.