Cyanobacteria can protect themselves through limited dispersion and by increasing the compactness of the mucilage-covered cyanobacterial mat as well as by producing sheaths covering their trichomes. These features have been used in research to measure their degree of inducible defence. The influence of the rotifers Lecane inermis presence on the effectiveness of Phormidium sp. (Ph2) cyanobacterium defence was investigated. Experiments were conducted on the ciliates Pseudomicrothorax dubius and Furgasonia blochmanni, specialized in the ingestion of filamentous cyanobacteria. The most compact were cyanobacterial mats that were subjected exclusively to ciliates, and the most dispersed were mats in the presence of rotifers alone. The presence of rotifers feeding on cyanobacterial mucilage led to the decreased effectiveness of the defence in two ways, by increasing the dispersion of cyanobacterial trichomes, thus loosening the cyanobacterial mat, and through the ingestion of the exopolysaccharide material covering the trichomes. As a result, in the presence of rotifers and the high density of ciliates, almost all the trichomes were removed. Moreover, in comparison to the other treatments, a higher number of ciliates and rotifers remained active until the end of the experiments. This is the first report to show how rotifers can weaken the defence of cyanobacteria.

中文翻译：

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轮虫削弱了蓝细菌对纤毛食草动物的防御效率。

蓝细菌可以通过有限的分散，增加粘液覆盖的蓝细菌垫的致密性以及产生覆盖其毛状体的鞘来保护自己。这些功能已在研究中用于测量其诱导防御的程度。蛭形轮虫的影响Lecane麦上的有效性存在纤细席藻。研究了（Ph2）蓝细菌的防御能力。实验对纤毛假单胞菌杜比和Furgasonia blochmanni进行了，专门用于摄取丝状蓝细菌。最紧凑的是仅对纤毛虫进行杀菌的蓝藻垫，而最分散的是仅存在轮虫的垫子。以蓝细菌黏液为食的轮虫的存在通过增加蓝细菌毛状体的分散度，从而使蓝细菌的垫子松散以及通过摄取覆盖毛状体的胞外多糖材料而以两种方式导致防御效力的降低。结果，在轮虫的存在和纤毛的高密度下，几乎所有的毛状体都被去除了。而且，与其他处理相比，直到实验结束之前，仍有更多数量的纤毛和轮虫保持活性。这是第一个显示轮虫如何削弱蓝细菌防御能力的报告。